


The Cost of One's Malice

by Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Fluff, I don't remember how the 3dmg gear works, I'm only taking artistic license because...reasons, M/M, Masturbation, Oral Sex, Rimming, So expect artistic license in that department, Underage tag is there because if I recall, and some other stuff, at least i think it's fluff, feels kind of wrong to post now because of that but...whatever, hell if i know, probably slow burn, take note that severe leg fractures aren't going to heal in only a few weeks, they're only fifteen for the majority of the series thus far
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-05-29 21:51:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 27,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15082481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth/pseuds/Silver_Shortage_in_Markarth
Summary: Eren believes a certain horse-faced someone has ulterior motives in regards to his pal Armin, and does the unthinkable.Not all is as it would appear, however. In fact, as Eren will soon discover, he might have just made a horrible mistake!





	1. Chapter 1

It was long past curfew when Eren snuck into the equipment shed, surrounded by all manner of things that would be used for missions and training.

Right now he didn't care about all that. Holding up a lantern for light, he looked about for one thing in particular.

Before he did that, however, Eren peeked back out of the doorway to see if he'd been followed. When he didn't see anybody, he breathed a sigh of relief. He then set the lantern onto the floor, so as to have both hands free. 

He also made sure it was far enough in the room that it couldn't be easily seen. The room was fairly large, and the light wasn't all that bright, but he wasn't going to take any chances with all this. 

It didn't take long before Eren found what he was looking for; the 3DMG gear. All of them were polished and tuned up, ready to be used for their primary purposes. Once he reached the table they were all on, he then leaned forward and scanned the names that were in front of them all (some of them had to be custom made so as to work properly). As he did, he quietly said them under his breath, as though to confirm them all. 

"Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse..." His voice sounded raspy, as though keeping it low was requiring effort. Going down the line, he reached the one he'd been looking for: 

"Jean Kirstein." Just saying his name put a bad taste in Eren's mouth right now, more so than usual. 

He knew suspicious activity when he saw it, and lately, Jean's actions were as such. If that horse's ass thought he could horn in on his little trio with Mikasa and Armin, he would soon learn otherwise, and in the hard way. And Eren was going to make certain that was going to happen. 

Eren reached into his back pocket, and pulled out a long, serrated knife he'd stolen from the kitchen on his way here. He couldn't help but grin maniacally as he found one of the grappling hooks, and started cutting his way through it. When the hook was severed from the rest of the gear, he then located the gas canister, carefully letting out the contents a little bit at a time. 

He'd just about finished when he heard a voice behind him, catching him completely off guard and almost causing him to drop the knife. 

" _ **Eren,**_ " came the stern yet familiar voice. " _What_ are you doing?" 

Mikasa. 

No doubt that Eren looked like a child with his hand stuck in the cookie jar, with him being confronted by her. 

"Uh..." Eren knew full well that Mikasa would not like being lied to. But he couldn't really tell her the truth, either. "I'll tell you later." It wasn't a complete lie, and telling Mikasa later _was_ on Eren's to-do list. But that still didn't keep Mikasa from getting a sour look on her face. 

All he could really do from there was return the knife to his back pocket, and grab his lantern. He exited the room with his head down, and Mikasa right behind him. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, cadets and new recruits alike were all up and ready to go. Most of them were still at least half-asleep, but that was beside the point. It wasn't much to write home about, the training itself; it was mostly just checking to make sure everyone reflexes were up to snuff, and whatnot. 

As they waited their turn, Eren and Jean at some point made eye contact while standing next to each other. Jean stuck his tongue out at Eren, who retaliated with a raspberry sound and middle finger. Standing next to Eren, Mikasa just glowered slightly, and next to her, Armin just gave a withering look at the both of them. None of the other soldiers seemed too pleased with their childish antics, either. 

Armin wasn't even completely certain why he was here: his physical prowess left quite a lot to be desired. He was at least thankful that he didn't have to go up until later (thank goodness for backwards alphabet choosing). In an effort to keep his mind distracted until it was his turn, he looked about and focused on Commander Erwin and Captain Levi, who watched it all happen with a strong intensity. Hanji was also on standby, just in case one of the soldiers had an accident.

Little did everyone know just how vital she would end up being in but a short time. 

When it came time for Jean to perform, Eren could barely conceal a sinister grin. He did let out a couple of amused snorts, which he tried passing off as aborted sneezes. 

He just couldn't wait to see Jean make an absolute fool of himself in front of everyone, with broken equipment. The thought was enough to make him want to rub his palms together like some kind of cliche villain found in certain books.

Eren's thought process was interrupted, however, by the sound of a grappling hook attaching itself to one of the large wooden training posts. 

It was all downhill from there. To Eren's abject shock and horror, he realized he'd forgotten to sever the _other_ grappling hook. The other spectators shared his feelings, but obviously for different reasons. 

All of them could only watch as Jean's equipment failed to grapple onto the next wooden post. For Jean himself, his expression went from a confident smirk, to complete and utter terror. It only got worse when he tried to deploy his gas canister, and could not do so. Oddly enough, there was total silence from everyone when he plummeted to the hard ground below. 

At least until there came the audible, sickening crack of broken bones. 

...

The next few minutes seemed to go by in some weird combination of blurring and slow motion. Jean began screaming bloody murder almost the moment he made impact with the ground. This was followed by several of the others running over to him, including Armin, much to Eren's consternation. 

"Kirstein!" Erwin could be heard among the commotion. "What happened?" 

Jean presumably couldn't answer him, except with screaming that ebbed down to loud, anguished moaning. Hanji bent over to see the damage, then stood back up with wide eyes and looked to a couple of new recruits. 

"Get a stretcher and bring him to the infirmary!" She yelled to them. "Now!" She added quickly to remind them how urgent it was. 

As the recruits skittered off to do as they were told, Eren could see the crowd dispersing, revealing precisely just how badly Jean was injured. Off to the side a few yards away, Jean's 3DMG was smashed beyond anything salvageable. Chances were that he'd fallen in such a way that it too was destroyed. 

Just like Jean's legs. 

When the recruits finally returned, they carefully set Jean onto it, and hefted him up to carry him to the infirmary. 

...

Jean had damn near passed out from the agonizing pain he was in by the time he'd gotten to the infirmary. He could still be heard breathing heavily as he was set down onto one of the cots and attended to. 

All around him, the din of frightened and worried voices was heard. One in particular stood out, though. 

"Jean! Jean, can you hear me?! Jean!"

Armin. If anyone knew what it was like to have both legs broken, it'd be him. The sound of him talking so frantically, oddly enough, was putting Jean's mind at ease. It told him that he was at least still conscious, if just barely. Without really realizing it, he started putting on a grin, in an effort to reassure Armin. 

Then the pain completely overtook him, causing him to slip into darkness. 

...

Later that evening, after waiting until everyone else was shooed away, Armin was left with a still sleeping Jean. Or at least he hoped he was sleeping, anyway.

Going by what Hanji said, it would probably take a while before any concrete prognoses could be determined. Until then, Jean's legs and feet (except for his toes) were bound up in numerous strips of cloth, and quite tightly at that. If any complications from broken bones wouldn't do him in, the lack of circulation probably would. 

Armin's gaze traveled upward a certain distance, cringing when he stopped; he knew Hanji had been desperate and in a hurry, but he didn't quite get why she had to completely cut off _both_ his pants and underwear. She at least had the good graces to cover his junk up with a towel. 

"I wish I knew if you can hear me, Jean." For reasons he couldn't understand, Armin felt responsible for all this. He kept trying to dismiss it as a silly and absurd idea, but that feeling persisted. 

A little while after that, Armin could hear footsteps approaching, causing him to get a feeling of dread within him. 

"Who's there?" He asked as he got to his feet and quickly turned around. He waited, holding his breath and stepping carefully towards the door. 

"Armin? Armin, It's long past curfew." Much to his great relief, it was only Mikasa. "Why are you still here? Hanji said Jean may not wake up until sometime late tomorrow."

"I know, but..." Armin bit his lip and looked over his shoulder at Jean, before shaking his head. "Never mind." Armin then walked past her, waiting for her to take lead again back to their sleeping quarters.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember what all the rooms at their place is like
> 
> So use your imagination or something

When the two separated to enter the hallways leading to their respective rooms, Armin was left to wander through the darkness, mindful not to run into or trip over anything. He was grateful that nobody could see him walking with his arms stretched out; he had to have looked like a complete moron, had anything been visible.

Even after all this time in the Survey Corps, he still had a hard time finding certain rooms. His usual way of finding them (remembering things around them) would obviously not work right now. At least until he noticed a few doors farther down that were slightly ajar, enough to each let a sliver of golden light through. All three of them also had speaking or otherwise some kind of noise coming from within. With a quick yet quiet stride, he reached the first one and peeked in.

"Oh boy, oh boy..." Hanji looked perplexed and frazzled, looking over her notes and memos. "No matter how I try to word it, I won't be able to sugarcoat the news. D'ohhh, why couldn't I get something more related to titans? Maybe I can try to convince him to let himself be used as titan bait. He'd still be contributing to the whole humanity thing! He could still be useful! So how...?"

Armin was getting uncomfortable watching her pace back and forth, while then grabbing her head with her hands and shaking it back and forth. He decided to tiptoe over to door number two. In this one, he saw Erwin hunched over a desk, in the midst of writing something.

"'Dear Mrs. Kirstein'...Or is it Ms. Kirstein?" He looked deep in thought, staring at the door in such a way that Armin was fearful that he'd known he was there eavesdropping.

Erwin just shook his head and continued. "I'll have to ask Kirstein later. 'I regret to inform you that your son Jean has been incapacitated, and is no longer able to...' But Armin didn't stay to hear the rest; he was already upset enough with what he'd heard. Even then, he decided to look into the last door.

Although he wasn't exactly a giant, Levi was still a very scary man. The presence he commanded was a powerful one, fitting for the man considered to be Humanity's Strongest Warrior. Right now, though, Humanity's Strongest Warrior was sitting on a crate, glaring at Jean's busted 3DMG gear with his arms crossed rather tightly. The way he was looking at it, it looked as if he were trying to will the gear to tell him what caused the disaster earlier that day.

Just as Armin was stepping back to get to the sleeping quarters, he knocked over some of Levi's ever-present cleaning supplies. In reaction to the noise that made, Levi swiveled his head in an almost unnatural way; nothing else of him moved along with it.

Realizing he really could end up getting caught, Armin clapped a hand over his mouth, and skittered off into a branching hallway, hidden from where he just was. He managed to run and blend into the shadows, right as the door squealed open and Levi leaned out. As he did, Armin hazarded another peek.

Levi looked none too pleased at one of the lower ranks probably being out past curfew, going by the dark-even-for-him expression he was sporting now. Armin kept quiet as much as he could while Levi searched left and right for anybody. But all Levi found were his cleaning supplies scattered on the floor, leading him to sigh heavily and step out to pick them back up.

After that, Armin waited until he heard the door shut, then quickly returned to the sleeping quarters. As he did, he stripped down to his underwear on the way there, so he wouldn't end up having to waste time as soon as he reached his bed.

...

It didn't feel like he'd slept very long when morning arrived; Armin was still groggy and tired. Still, he got up anyway. The others already had, which surprised everyone; usually Armin was the first one up, not the last. Not that anyone actually came to wake him up. Not even Eren, apparently. Or maybe he _had_ tried to wake Armin up earlier and simply couldn't do so.

Just as he thought when he left the sleeping quarters en route to the mess hall; he'd been the last one to awaken, and it looked as if he'd missed breakfast. He didn't see Eren and Mikasa either, oddly enough. Armin just shrugged it off and wandered over in the direction of the infirmary to go see if Jean was awake.

Right outside the door, Hanji was staring off into space, making weird motions with her clasped hands. She wasn't too far out of it to not see him, though. 

"Oh, Armin!" Her expression brightened considerably, if in a fake way. "Think you can help me with something? Nothing difficult, just be a calming influence when I drop the news on ol' Jeanie in there!" She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him in before he even got a chance to say anything. 

...

Although Jean was still in his unusual state of dress from yesterday, he was plenty awake now. Now he just had his unnaturally straightened legs spread wide apart, in a grotesquely obscene fashion. It could not have been safe or comfortable, but he insisted on staying that way. He only lifted his head up to see Armin get pushed over to his side. 

"Armin!" He tried to smile again, out of reassurance. "You came to visit! And you didn't bring that suicidal bastard you're friends with! Even better." Just as Armin was about to make a comment telling him to knock that off, Hanji strode over to the front of the bed Jean was laying on. The veneer of her smile could barely mask the imminent gloom that was sure to follow her words. 

"Well, Mister Kirstein," she started. "I got good news, and I got bad news." Then she lifted her arms up and made a sort of balancing motion with her hands. "Which one do you want first?" 

Armin knew Jean wasn't going to like the bad news, if his assumption was correct (but then again, _nobody_ ever liked the bad news. That was why it was called bad news). In an attempt to do what he was brought in for, he took a seat on the edge of the bed, next to Jean. 

"Uh...Good news?" 

Hanji told him right away, being a little too chipper about it. "Well, the good news is that your legs weren't completely smashed to pieces. If all goes well, you'll be up and walking in just a few weeks!" 

"Oh, that's great!" Armin took the words right out of Jean's mouth, including the negative ones. "And the bad news?" 

It was here that Hanji's smile faded to look more sad and pitying. "That's probably going to be all you can do. You'll be able to walk again, but you're likely to have a pretty bad limp. And your maneuvering skills almost certainly  won't be good enough to use the 3DMG gear anymore.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, your Titan-hunting days are pretty much over." The whole time that Hanji was talking, Jean's face collapsed into despair. It didn't look very good on him, Armin noted. When she finished talking, his mouth was agape, with his eyes looking as if they were about to bulge out of his head. Unable to find the right words, he just stared down at his legs. 

...

A little while after Hange left, Jean was still dealing with the lingering news that he was more or less crippled. He'd managed to sit up and grabbed his hair with both of his hands, not looking up. 

"Well," Armin tried to say. "At least you'll be able to walk again at some point. That has to count for something, right? Remember when I ended up breaking both _my_ legs?" Jean simply groaned. He then flopped back onto the bed, sliding his hands to cover up his face. 

"Yeah," he told him, with his voice muffled. "But you still get to be in the scouts!"

To Armin's confusion and sadness, he couldn't think of anything else to tell him. 

Meanwhile, right outside the door to the infirmary, Eren was impatiently tapping his foot, waiting for Armin to hurry up and come back out already. The quicker he got him away from that horse-faced loser, the better. He was taking an awfully long time to come back out, though. 

Eren was about to go in and drag Armin out himself, when he felt a presence arrive, a menacing one. He briefly glanced to his left and saw Levi there, standing and watching him like some kind of bored and cranky hawk. 

"Still jinxed, Captain?" Eren tried to lighten the mood with humor, but Levi wasn't having it. He just kept staring at him. If Eren didn't know better, he'd assume Levi knew his true part in all of this. 

Levi kept staring at him for an unpleasantly long amount of time, and then left. A little while after he did, Armin finally came out of the infirmary. He wasn't really paying attention to anything Eren was saying, despite being glad to see him and now knowing where he was. 

What did stick in his mind as he'd left had been Jean's soft weeping, as he'd lay there devastated and with currently non-functioning legs.


	4. Chapter 4

Eren had started noticing it about a month ago. 

At first it had been subtle things, like Armin asking Jean for input on things, alongside the other two. Then came the partnering up during two-person training. It wasn't actually the training itself, but rather the fact that Jean appeared to be restraining himself. Eren certainly couldn't think of any other reason Armin could beat him in the sparring matches. 

Then came the sitting at meals together; it alternated between Jean sitting with the trio, or Armin just sitting with Jean. Now they appeared to spend all their free time with each other. But Eren wasn't a moron, of course. He knew what Jean was up to. Before long, they'd have been sharing a bed. And following  _that_  would have been...

He had to nip it in the bud quickly, before Armin got hurt. Though Eren didn't expect Jean to have both his legs smashed apart, at least now he couldn't try any funny business-

"Eren?" Hearing Armin's voice got him to snap out of it. "You've been awfully quiet this whole time, and it's scaring me." Indeed, there was a worried and fearful edge in Armin's voice. In an attempt to soothe his fears, he looked behind him and scratched the back of his head. 

"Oh, it's nothing!" But he didn't sound all that convincing, and he certainly didn't make Armin feel any better. 

...

Later that afternoon, Eren was on his way to another of the higher-up's lectures (something about not wasting hot water in the showers or something equally stupid), when he was stopped by a woman he vaguely recognized. 

"Excuse me," she said to him, "but could you show me where your Commander's office is?"

Here she pulled a piece of paper out of a cloth bag she had slung over her shoulder. "I got this letter from him earlier this morning, telling me to come here as soon as possible."

Eren didn't see any harm in telling her this. "Down this hall, take a left, second door." 

She thanked him for his directions, and followed them immediately. Now, Eren's curiosity was certainly piqued. When she'd turned the corner like he said, he quickly ran back down to the end of the hall. There he poked his head partially out from behind the wall, and watched. 

...

Jean's mother had been quite distraught ever since she'd received word that her son was in a training-related accident. From there, she was quick to reach the barracks to find out what happened. 

Commander Erwin was a nice enough man, he at least had the courtesy to shake her hand. The other two seated next to his desk didn't so much as say hello (and one of them looked like he had a stick up his ass). 

After the pleasantries were exchanged, Erwin cut right to the chase. He hadn't given too much information about Jean's condition, only that it was serious enough to warrant an involuntary discharge from the scouts. One of the other two, Hanji, spoke up at this point, saying it was best if she saw it herself. That alone was enough to strike fear and dread into Miss Kirstein's being. 

It got even worse when she finally saw him.

"Ohhh...!" Was what came out in lieu of actual words, as she made her way over. "Oh, my little Jeanbo..."

Her poor son looked an absolute wreck. The pale skin and the bags under his eyes indicated that he probably hadn't gotten any sleep since he'd woken up from unconsciousness. His facial expression displayed a mix of forlornness and absolute pain. When he looked over at his mother, his expression only worsened, and took on an appearance of embarrassment. 

"Mom..." He croaked out. Miss Kirstein just knelt down by his side and shushed him, and told him he didn't have to say anything. In an effort to comfort him, she started smoothing back his messy hair. 

"It's alright, Jeanbo. Mommy's here." 

Jean didn't bother trying to wave her away. With his legs currently being all but useless, he felt plenty humiliated already. 

 ...

Seeing all this was making Eren feel some sort of emotion he couldn't put his finger to. Whatever it was, though, he just pushed it as far back into his mind as he could; Tragic as this all apparently was, surely it was for the best for everyone involved. 

Especially Armin. 

Now Eren went off to find him and Mikasa, attempting to seem like he'd just casually wandered off the way he did. Occasionally, he peeked into one of the other rooms, to try and cast off any suspicion if anyone had seen him. He already knew where they were though: it was getting to be almost dinnertime anyway. 

The two of them, of course, were relieved to see him. 

"Eren!" Mikasa said to him. "You missed the entire lecture. Next time try to make better use of your time." 

Eren now ended up having to listen to _everything_ from her and Armin about what was talked about. Thankfully, they weren't too wordy about it. 

While they all spoke, Armin couldn't help but keep glancing towards the direction of the infirmary. He could see Jean's mother speaking to Commander Erwin with a face that made her look as though she were about to cry. Armin didn't blame her; if it were him in that situation, he'd likely cry as well.

...

That night, shortly before curfew was enforced, a few of the soldiers, the trio included, all watched as Miss Kirstein carried Jean's few personal belongings out of the sleeping quarters. It hadn't occurred to any of them just how stark and empty his bed looked until it'd been stripped of its sheets. 

To add insult to injury, Jean himself wasn't allowed to go with her. He, unfortunately, had to remain at the barracks until he was able to walk again. Naturally, he was none too happy about this: as much as he admitted to having a difficult relationship with his mother, being in the barracks knowing he could never join the others again was even worse. Potentially getting bed sores wasn't exactly much fun either. 

"Huh," Eren said when she was out of earshot, in a rather tasteless attempt at humor, "isn't the proper protocol for a horse with a broken leg to put it down?" 

All his friends and fellow soldiers turned to look at him incredulously. Though none of them said a word to him, it was quite clear they were all thinking the exact same thing: 

_Where the hell did **that** come from? _

...

After everybody else had gone to sleep, Armin sat on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest. He couldn't bear to look at what had once been designated as Jean's bed. Yet, he couldn't stop looking over at it. It were as if he thought if he kept doing that, then Jean would magically reappear in it, looking perfectly fine. 

Knowing he wasn't going to get much sleep that night, Armin turned and stepped off his bed. He was careful not to make too much noise, even if several of his peers had a tendency to snore. When he was sure he hadn't woken anyone up, Armin then padded over to the door leading out to the hallway. 

It then became a matter of navigating the halls to find where Jean was. Armin didn't have the aid of any light this time; the doors from last time were shut tight, indicating those three were asleep now. Therefore, he had to guess where everything was, or could be. In the end, Armin just kept to the walls, turning when he felt a corner.

Although it took quite a while (longer than he cared to admit), he found the infirmary door. Even in the near-complete darkness, he could see Jean snoozing away on the cot. He was laying on his stomach now, meaning somebody had flipped him over so he could sleep a little better, or something to that effect. His mouth was open slightly, allowing a bit of drool to trickle out. 

Carefully, Armin located the nearest cot, and lay down upon it in the way Jean was in his. He then turned to look in Jean's direction, with a tired smile on his face. 

Armin knew, with little doubt in his mind, that he was going to get in trouble for this (mostly for being out past curfew). He told himself it was worth it, though. 


	5. Chapter 5

It was the sound of retching that woke up Armin the next morning, along with a few decidedly unpleasant stenches. He frantically looked for whoever it was in the sleeping quarters that was sick, before remembering that he hadn't fallen asleep there. He turned to instead see Jean's cot empty, with the blanket that had been covering him wadded up in the middle of the bed.

Jean himself was laying on his stomach a few feet away, his face dangerously close to the opening of a chamber pot. The sounds that erupted from Jean's mouth were ghastly bordering on unholy, almost as bad as the actual contents of his stomach. When he wasn't lurching, he was coughing and taking ragged, gasping breaths. Right away, Armin was at his side. 

"Jean!" He put one of his hands on Jean's shoulder. "Jean, what happened? Did you fall out of bed?" Even though Jean was currently unable to say anything due to a coughing fit, he nodded. To try and get him to calm down, Armin rubbed his back with his other hand. It seemed to work to an extent. 

Once he was able to figure out the source of one smell, Armin quickly realized he was kneeling in the source of the other. He didn't notice until that moment why Jean's blanket was set up like that. 

"That smells like...Jean, did you...?!" 

Again, Jean nodded. "I wasn't able to...to..." He couldn't finish, and just flopped over onto his back. Then, he tried lifting his arms and legs up, like some kind of flipped over turtle with broken legs and his dick hanging out. 

Basically, he looked ridiculous. The fact that he had to put up with this for at least six weeks just made it worse. 

...

Armin had finished up washing and covering Jean's privates, and was working on cleaning the puddle of urine when he heard snickering. 

"Ha, and here I thought horses couldn't vomit!" The sound of Eren's voice cracking that horrible joke got Armin to remember that he hadn't cleaned out the chamber pot yet. 

Jean wasn't too keen on having a conversation right now, especially not with Eren. Armin, on the other hand, just tried telling himself not to get involved in this usual song and dance. 

"Piss off, Jaeger," Jean mumbled out as he kept his eyes up to the ceiling. 

"Looks like you've done enough of that for both of us, though." 

Armin sighed, putting back the rag he'd been using into a nearby bucket of soapy hot water (supplied by the Captain, of course). He knew this wasn't going to end well. 

"Eren, please," he spoke while standing up on his feet and grabbing hold of his bucket. "He feels bad enough as is." 

But Eren, for once, didn't comply with his best buddy's wishes. "Well, now all he's good for is pissing and moaning. So he's good-for-nothing now, and-"

"Eren, _stop_!" Now Armin looked as though he were on the brink of tears. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but I'd appreciate it very much if you'd quit it!"

To his relief, Eren went silent for a few moments. Then Eren just pouted. 

"Fine! But only because you're the one telling me to!" 

He pulled off another raspberry towards Jean before leaving the infirmary. Armin walked over to watch him go. 

"He doesn't have to rub it in, you know," Jean grumbled while crossing his arms. Armin didn't really hear him. 

"Eren's been acting very odd for the last few days," he said to himself. "I wonder why..."

...

Once Eren was out of Armin's line of vision, he stopped and hung his head down. It occurred to him now that he shouldn't have said those things. He'd only ended up making Armin upset. 

That feeling he'd been dealing with hadn't gone away, either. If anything, it had gotten even worse. Still, he kept telling himself that this was for the best. He was starting to not believe that, though. 

"I ought to go find Mikasa," he said to himself, trying to sway his thoughts elsewhere. 

As he walked by, Eren didn't notice the inner door to the equipment shed was unlocked. 

...

Things were starting to feel awfully suspicious, and Levi was intent on finding out why. 

No matter how many times he looked over Jean's busted 3DMG gear, nothing indicated anything out of place. Yet he persisted, pulling apart whatever he could without making a horrible mess. 

Before Levi could yank away any more large components, his foot made contact with something sharp on the floor. It was while sucking in air through his teeth that he saw the culprit: 

A detached grappling hook. 

Now curious, Levi reached down and grabbed hold of it, trying to figure out how it could've gotten there. Right away, he saw clues. 

The piece of rope still tied to the end showed signs of being messed with, not a natural fraying process at all. The tiny chips in the iron of the hook also gave credence to this suggestion. 

Levi grabbed the rope from the gear, and compared them. Sure enough, it had to have been from Jean's gear. This could only mean that none of this had been accidental. It was an intentional sabotage. 

He had to let the Commander know. 

...

"Before I go and leave you at Hanji's mercy," Armin said to Jean as he was helping him down onto a clean cot, "is there anything else you need?" 

Jean hesitated, before offering his outstretched arms. He looked as if he were about to start crying again. Thankfully, Armin seemed to know what he was trying to ask. 

With a lot of care and gentleness, Armin and Jean wrapped their arms around each other. 

"How's that?" The uncomfortable position of trying to hold someone laying down didn't even bother Armin all that much. 

Jean didn't have a whole lot to say now other than the word "hug" drawn out, like the emetic ordeal from earlier took a lot out of him. 

It pained Armin a little to have to leave. He did promise Jean he'd be back later, however. Jean seemed to be in the process of closing his eyes for a nap, anyway. 


	6. Chapter 6

The way that Levi practically strode across the hallways to the Commander's office terrified the soldiers that watched him, at least more so than usual. Any of them standing in the halls knew well enough to stay the hell back, lest they get shoved out of Levi's way. 

"Hey Captain!" Hanji's voice rang out, seemingly unaware of Levi's current state. "Think maybe you can help me with-" She stopped when she got a good long look as Levi stalked by. Once she did, she could feel a strong, intimidating presence surrounding him, powerful enough to make her break out in a cold sweat. 

Hanji could only watch as Levi continued on, pushing one of the new recruits out of his way. Once she deemed it safe to follow, she quickly walked to catch up with Levi, but remained a few feet behind him. As they approached the Commander's office, Hanji could tell there was going to be a big bang of some kind. 

Sure enough, Levi shoved the door open with such force, that it made the door itself swing almost a complete 180 degrees, slamming against the wall. It was so loud, Commander Erwin was jolted out of whatever it was he was doing. He was about to angrily confront whoever it was that interrupted him, but calmed down somewhat when he saw it was Levi. 

"Captain?" Erwin was still relatively peeved at nearly being given a heart attack. "What is it? Is one of the new recruits shouting false alarms about titans again?" 

Levi shook his head, and rammed the grappling hook that he'd carried with him hard onto Erwin's desk; he did it hard enough to mar it, even. Then, he pointed out the doorway repeatedly, his expression unchanging. Seeing as he didn't understand what Levi was trying to say to him, Erwin pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked to Hanji. 

"Please say his name," he told her. "This isn't going to go anywhere if all he can do is play charades with me." 

Hanji patted Levi on the shoulder. "Better do what he says, Levi." Levi slumped over, apparently thankful and relieved that he could talk again. Now given that privilege, he explained what he'd discovered.

**_-roughly a half hour later-_ **

No sooner did Eren find Mikasa (he didn't know why it took so damn long to find her in the first place) did all the soldiers get called for yet another emergency lecture. Most of them were starting up their groaning until they all saw the Commander's displeased facial expression. 

Actually, it was more than displeasure; it looked as though Erwin was desperately trying to contain a near-volcanic rage. Nevertheless, he was able to keep it in check as he addressed the latest problem at hand. 

Long story short, however, he did  _ **not**_ look happy. 

"It's come to my attention that the events surrounding Kirstein's unfortunate mishap were...intentional," he told them all. "Of course, the culprit is most likely to be one of you." Eren could've sworn he saw Erwin quick glance over at him, but then told himself he was just imagining it. 

"I will admit that many of you had a difficult relationship with him, but to injure him terribly and have him discharged from the scouts is **_unacceptable._** " The harsh way he said this last word made a few of the soldiers flinch. "Therefore, the Captain and I have come to a decision in regards to finding the one responsible. Captain?" 

Erwin turned to look at Levi, who simply glared back. An awkward silence ensued, before Erwin remembered why Levi wasn't saying anything: 

"Oh, that's right. Hanji jinxed you again, didn't she?" Erwin smacked his forehead, before addressing the other soldiers again. "Anyway, in order to try and discover who is responsible-"

Hearing all this made Eren want to blurt out that he didn't mean to cripple Jean, just humiliate him. What held him back was knowing that it would out him in front of everyone. He simply hoped that the punishment about to be doled out wouldn't be an especially painful one. 

Said hope was in vain. 

...

This time, it was Armin who had missed a lecture; from the looks of things (which included grumbling recruits and just a general bad mood in the air), it was a particularly important one. He was walking down the hallway when he saw a large group of soldiers coming toward him. 

"Hey, uh, what happened...?" But nobody acknowledged Armin's question. He kept staring after them before he heard his friends walking towards him. "Eren? Mikasa? What's going on?" 

It was Mikasa that spoke first. "The Commander believes Jean's accident involves foul play." 

"And now," Eren said next, "he's punishing everyone to try and get who's responsible to crack and admit their guilt." Knowing _he_ was the one responsible made it hard to say those words to his own friends.

Eren also didn't know whether he could live with the knowledge that it was his doing that everyone would be suffering for. And yet, he was torn over letting this happen to his fellow soldiers, and coming clean and risking everybody (possibly including his friends) turning against him. He really didn't know which was going to be worse. 

...

 The next day, Erwin's commanded penalties officially went into effect. It was obvious from the very beginning, when the scouts had much smaller portions for breakfast. 

After breakfast came more rigorous training, and after  _that_ were extra chores. The higher-ups were not light on either of these; the former meant more body-straining requirements, and the latter meant they'd purposely make everything dirty again. Needless to say, the first day of all this left the scouts tired, hurting, and very upset and cranky. But Armin tried not to let any of it show as he went to go visit Jean later that evening. 

He was surprised to see Jean already had a visitor, though, one that had made herself comfortable by sitting at the foot of the bed. 

"I tried bringing you an omelet for breakfast this morning," she told Jean, "but your superiors said I wasn't allowed to visit you then." Jean simply looked up at the ceiling, trying to avoid eye contact with her.

"Thanks anyway, Mom," he muttered before looking over to see Armin. Right away, his expression brightened. 

Armin himself felt awkward; he really hoped that he wasn't interrupting anything important that Jean's mother was trying to say to him. 

Of course, when she took notice of her son looking elsewhere, Miss Kirstein glanced herself, smiling once she saw him. 

"You must be Armin," she said while getting to her feet. "Your Commander's mentioned you getting involved with my son's recovery process." 

Miss Kirstein reached out and gently squeezed Armin's shoulder. "Thank you so much for helping take care of my Jeanbo." 

"O-Oh, no problem." Armin was not entirely sure how to talk to Jean's mother right now. "Just helping out a friend is all." 

But to try and mask his embarrassment, he chuckled and returned her grin. 

...

Eren left the mess hall as quickly and discreetly as he could manage. With the resized portions and shortened dinner time, the other soldiers didn't take quite as long to eat now. 

To make matters worse, Commander Erwin had declared that there would be a search of beds right after dinner was over and done with. 

It didn't bother Eren right away, until he remembered that he still had that knife he'd used on Jean's gear. Then he was on his way to the sleeping quarters. 

When he got there, he wasted no time in reaching under his pillow. Feeling nothing like the serrated knife he had taken, he truly began to panic. 

"Dammit, no! It's gotta be around here, I know it!" Eren grabbed his hair and yanked at it, feeling the Titan's blood in his veins run cold. 

He looked in the sheets; nothing. He then shoved his hand under the mattress; it wasn't there, either. 

Fortunately, a check under the bed itself revealed it settled at the wall. It probably slid in between the bed and wall at some point. 

"Phew..." Eren let out as he grabbed hold of the knife, pulling it out and wiping off any dust or dirt on it with his shirt.

He was safe for another day, or at least that's what he thought. For right after Eren finished cleaning the knife, he turned and bumped into someone. 

"Hey! What's the big idea-!" But he didn't finish his sentence, on account of who exactly it was standing there before him: 

 ** _Levi_**. 


	7. Chapter 7

Now that Armin had properly met Jean's mother, he wasn't entirely sure what to say, or do. But he also didn't want to stand there gawking at her and Jean like some kind of idiot. So, he just asked what was probably a stupid question, with a relatively obvious answer: 

"What brings you here today, Miss Kirstein? I mean, what brings you here to visit Jean?" 

Miss Kirstein just chuckled, seemingly amused with him. "I just thought maybe he'd want something from home." She then reached into the bag on her shoulder, and pulled out some kind of wrapped up bundle. Right away, just from smelling it, he could tell it was banana bread. 

To Armin's chagrin, smelling the aroma that wafted through the air ostensibly caused his stomach to grumble. He clutched it to try and get it to stay quiet, to no success. When he saw that Jean's mother noticed, he chuckled nervously and tried to play it off as no big deal. 

"Sorry," he said to her. "The Commander is punishing everybody, and part of it involves less to eat at mealtimes." His answer caused her to get a worried look on his face.

"Well, that won't do!" She set the bundle onto a nearby table, and untied it. "Growing boys need to eat! Shame on your Commander." Armin was about to tell her that their penalized actions had to do with the events surrounding Jean, but he was stopped. He then saw her dig through her bag again, before rolling her eyes and slapping her face with her palm. 

"Ohhh, stupid me!" She muttered. "I was in such a hurry that I forgot to bring something to cut this with! Would you be a dear?" 

Given the way Miss Kirstein was smiling at him, Armin had an awfully hard time saying no to her. As he left the infirmary in search of the kitchen, she poked her head out to watch him go.

"He's such a nice boy," she told her son when she walked back to his bedside.

"Yeah, he is." Jean then paused for a moment, then turned his head away from her. "I used to think he was kind of creepy." He didn't want his mother to see the blush that had gradually begun to spread across his cheeks. 

...

"How long have you been standing there, Captain?" Eren made a mental note to himself to confront Hanji and her weird new sense of humor later; it was making Levi even more of a pain to deal with. 

Levi didn't say a word (dammit Hanji). What he did do was step closer and look Eren right in the eyes. That eye contact wasn't broken for a second as he reached forward and pinched the knife blade, gradually pulling it out of Eren's grasp. Once it was completely out of his fingers, Levi inched his face closer to Eren's. He got so close that Eren could just about smell his breath. 

Then that gaze was broken when Levi backhanded Eren hard across the face, hard enough to send him falling to the floor. 

"Wha...?!" Eren reached up to touch the part of his cheek that had been struck. He knew that any bruising would be dealt with on account of his titan healing powers, but he was still taken pretty off guard. 

He then tried reasoning with the Captain. "Look, it wasn't like I intended to break his legs! I just wanted to..." But Levi would not hear of it. He was already turning to go, leaving Eren there on the floor. Levi was about halfway to the kitchen when Armin showed up.

"Oh, Captain!" Armin couldn't help feeling just a bit lucky when he realized what Levi had with him. "Could I borrow that for a little bit? I'll bring it back to the kitchen for you, I promise!" He quick grabbed the knife out of Levi's hand and left before Levi could really stop him, calling out his thanks when he did. 

After he watched him go, Levi slumped over onto himself, letting out a displeased and frustrated grunt. He really hoped that this wasn't going to become a thing.

...

Later that night, when Miss Kirstein left and it was after lights out, Armin was once again wide awake in bed. He could hear a few of the other boys' growling stomachs, and felt guilty for having his own full of banana bread. It wasn't just growls he could manage to hear, either; he could also hear moans and groans induced by hunger pangs, and audible signs of fitful sleep. A couple of them were even crying. 

Armin flopped back onto his bed and tried to sleep, holding his pillow over his ears to try and block out all the heartbreaking sounds. No matter how long he tried that, however, he could still hear everybody. Giving up, he just threw his pillow down and crawled out of bed. He didn't even bother to remain quiet this time as he reached the door; all the noise covered his footsteps. 

He did quiet down significantly when pushing the door open, trying not to make it creak too much. When there was just enough space to slip out, he did so quickly. Once out in the hall, he quickly pattered off to the infirmary. On his way there, Armin made extra certain to avoid whoever was on patrolling duty. 

He really didn't like breaking the rules in place, especially under the circumstances. A part of him rationalized that it was okay to do it, though; Jean needed to be aware that Armin would be there for him no matter what time of day or night. Rules be damned, Jean was his friend. 

Unbeknownst to him, however, Armin was being followed. 

...

Eren was now aware that in attempting to avoid something, chances were that he caused it to actually happen. And damned if he didn't want to kick himself over it. 

Rather than do that, however, he just snuck out of the sleeping quarters to keep a close eye on Armin. Truth be told, he'd rather kick Jean over being such a horse-faced little usurper over everything. Eren wouldn't have had to resort to such drastic measures if he'd have just left them all be. 

Or at least that's what he kept telling himself. Eren's thoughts were interrupted when a bright orange glow came upon him, which forced him to shield his eyes. 

"Get back to bed, Jaeger! It's past curfew!" The bearer of that lantern barked at him (it might have been Shadis, or someone around his rank. Eren honestly couldn't recall right now). 

"But-"

"Now!" 

Quickly glancing to the side, Eren didn't see Armin anymore; he'd probably already reached where Jean was. With no other choice, he turned to go back to bed, the owner of the lantern following him to make certain he didn't try to go off someplace else or something like that. 

...

 Much to Armin's surprise, Jean was awake at such a late hour. What was even more baffling was his lack of clothing; all he had covering him were his leg restraints. It was this second bit that caused his cheeks to turn bright red. Jean's back was turned to him, meaning he hadn't realized yet that he was standing there. Given that he'd somehow got into a sitting position, Armin figured he had a bit of help. 

On the bed next to Jean, a decent-sized sponge sat in a bowl of (hopefully) cold water. Next to _those_  were a couple of towels. 

Armin didn't want to feel like some kind of pervert, so he loudly cleared his throat. He still ended up badly frightening him, which caused Jean to almost knock the bowl over. He looked over his shoulder when he grabbed a hold of it before it could spill all over the floor. 

"Oh, Armin! I thought Hanji came back. She is so fucking weird a lot of the time." He grabbed the sponge and started running it over his bare skin, turning away as he did so. "What are you doing here, anyway? Ain't it past lights out?" Seeing him wash himself as he talked made Armin feel kind of funny.

"It is, but..." He hesitated. There had to be some way to make it not sound like he was being a creeper. "I just...I wanted to make sure you were okay...You need any help?" Jean paused as he had the sponge on his chest, before he wordlessly held it out from behind himself, letting Armin take it.

What followed was a period of comfortable silence. Neither Armin or Jean said anything else to each other, as Armin helped Jean with washing his back. Both of them couldn't help but feel a strong sensation growing between them both. Something about the way that cold sponge felt against Jean's warm skin felt quite nice; almost erotic, even. 

Jean didn't say anything though; he didn't want to make it weird. 


	8. Chapter 8

It'd been about a week now since Jean's accident. In that week, the soldiers had to deal with yet another issue: Apparently, someone thought it'd be a good idea to wake everyone up by banging pots and pans together. When that was put into effect, everybody was now made aware of just how many of those there were. 

Having said cookware being rammed against each other less than a foot away from someone's ears didn't exactly help, either. 

Armin was starting to wonder if this was getting to be a bit much. He could only hope that whoever was the cause of all this would just hurry up and confess already. This was all getting to be absolute torture. He almost couldn't keep himself awake when he went to go see Jean later that morning. 

In fact, he barely noticed that Jean's mother had come for another visit herself; he was still trying to clean the sand out of his eyes. When he did notice her, she was standing at the doorway, watching Jean napping. 

"Miss Kirstein?" She looked over at him, smiling as she realized who it was. 

"Well hello, Armin!" She sounded as kind as ever. 

Armin just scratched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed for some reason. "Uh...Hello. I just came to see how Jean was doing." 

"Likewise," she replied before glancing back into the room. "I suppose we had nothing to worry about; he needs his rest, after all." Nothing was said for a few moments, before she sighed and her smile faded a bit. "Too bad for me, though: I was hoping to ask him what he wanted me to get for him when I go shopping later." 

"Oh?" 

His curiosity seemed to cheer her up a bit. "Well, once in a while, when Jean bothered to come see me in town, he always accompanied me when I went to get things. He also helped me carry them into the house, since I tend to buy too much. 

"Now that he's currently unable to walk, though, I suppose I'll have to cut back this time. That might be hard, though; I'll have to choose what I'm willing to avoid getting for this time." Listening to her made Armin kind of feel bad, bad enough for him to make his following suggestion:

"I could go with you." 

When he said this to her, Miss Kirstein looked a bit surprised. Then she smiled again.

"Oh, would you? I mean, if it isn't a problem for you. I'd hate for you to get in trouble with your Commander." 

"It's no problem, really!" Armin glanced at a few of his fellow soldiers walking by; most of them looked as if they were no longer among the living, it was getting that bad. "After all, it's not as if we'll be doing proper missions anytime soon..."

**_-a little while later-_ **

Trost District was getting back to normal at an impressive pace. It could've been that with the constant Titan attacks, they just expected disaster by now, and always remained prepared for when it happened again. 

If Armin hadn't known any better, he'd have believed this place was perfectly normal. It certainly seemed normal enough as he and Jean's mother rode through it via horse-drawn carriage. As he looked through the window, he could see many other townsfolk milling about, reaching their destinations or chatting with friends. 

Miss Kirstein kept her eyes staring down at her surprisingly calloused hands, as she held her traveling bag in her lap. Armin looked over at her occasionally, but he couldn't really think of anything to talk to her about. Thankfully, however, she evidently couldn't either. 

"So where are we going, exactly?" He inquired in some kind of attempt to dispel the uncomfortable silence. Jean's mother, who'd started picking at her nails, looked up at him.

"Oh, nowhere in particular, really." She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like some sort of wallet. "I usually just get baking supplies for whatever I want to try and make.

"Then," Miss Kirstein went on, "if I've got enough left over, I get a little something for myself." Here, she began giggling like a naughty teenager who'd just learned a most scandalous secret. "But promise you won't tell Jean?" Armin knew she wasn't being too serious about her son knowing her shopping habits. Nevertheless, he nodded and said he'd stay quiet about it. 

Then, the carriage stopped. As the two exited, Armin tried not to trip over anything. He then waited for Jean's mother to join him. When she did, he let her go on ahead; she knew Trost District better than he did, after all. 

...

Like a pair of hawks, Eren and Mikasa watched Jean snoozing away on his cot. The bindings on his legs were a different color, indicating that they'd been recently changed. At least there wasn't any putrid smell that meant festering or infected wounds. That would've been nightmarish for everybody. 

"Hey Mikasa," Eren said in a loud whisper, "Where'd Armin go?" It were almost as though he _wanted_ to wake Jean up, as he may as well not be whispering at all. Mikasa just fiddled with her ever-present scarf, and shrugged a little. 

"I haven't seen him since this morning," she murmured, being much quieter than Eren. Her answer made Eren unsure as to whether he should be grateful that Armin wasn't with Jean, or worried that he didn't know of his whereabouts. Maybe he could be a little bit of both. 

The two of them hadn't much time left to gawk at Jean afterwards. Not if the higher-ups announcing it was lunchtime had anything to say about it. Even if the bread now tasted like it were made of sawdust (and right now it likely was), it wasn't as if they had much of a choice in eating it. 

...

Meanwhile, Armin was glad that nobody in town appeared to recognize him as part of the Scouting Legion (some of the townsfolk weren't really all that nice in regards to them). He was also glad that he changed into a civilian's outfit instead of his uniform, which was the reason for his anonymity. He didn't want Jean's mother and himself to be harassed in public by any hecklers, after all. 

Now, he was standing by her side, watching as she perused the various cake and pie options. He was amazed at just how many choices there were. She, on the other hand, seemed pretty used to it.

"It's so good to have company again," Miss Kirstein said to him as she grabbed hold of a rather large bag of flour. "I know Jean's at a difficult age, but I still enjoy it when he comes with me." She faltered a little, clutching the flour bag to her chest. "It probably won't ever be the same when his legs heal." 

Then she looked over at him. "I can tell there's something about you that makes him very happy, though; maybe happy enough to forget his pain for a little while." 

Armin was admittedly flattered by her words. "Oh, I'm sure I couldn't have that much of an influence-" 

"No no, I mean it," she said after abruptly shushing him. "I don't think I've seen this much joy from him since before he lost Marco." 

Hearing the name of Armin's deceased fellow soldier caused a twinge of sadness to be felt in his chest. He knew how close Jean and Marco had been, and Jean certainly didn't take his death too well. To hear that he himself had such an effect of that level was just a tad bittersweet. 

"I..." He looked away, slightly embarrassed now. "Thanks, Miss Kirstein." 

Jean's mother patted him on the shoulder. "You're welcome. Now, think you can help me with carrying some of these other things...?" 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been very good with Erwin's characterization, so chances are he might be OOC in this.

The scene that Armin returned to after shopping with Miss Kirstein was both peculiar and frightening.

Of course, it wasn't that way initially. Rather, it was fairly normal looking. The soldiers were all moaning and groaning over their poor quality dinner, but besides that there wasn't a whole lot out of the ordinary. Commander Erwin was standing on the opposite end of the mess hall, his arms crossed, his gaze intense. 

A few tables away, Armin spotted Eren and Mikasa chatting with their friends. Mikasa looked away and saw Armin, giving a small wave to him that was warmly returned. Eren, oddly enough, didn't seem to notice he was there (he probably didn't see him), and continued to prattle on to Connie and Sasha about...something. 

Then, out of the corner of his eye (despite the large distance), Armin could see the Captain approaching the Commander. It looked as if Hanji had released him from that second jinx. He got a better look when Mikasa turned back to Eren's conversation. 

Levi could be seen tapping Erwin's upper arm, causing him to lean down so that Levi could whisper something into his ear. Armin watched as Erwin's brow furrowed and gaze hardened. He alternated glances between the Captain, and somewhere in Armin's direction. He then stood back up and nodded; the entire time, he didn't uncross his arms even once. 

The Commander then walked off, his arms still tightly crossed, leaving Levi where he was.

Now, though, the Captain was stomping down the aisle between all of the tables, his fists clenched. Armin could see what had to have been a look of supreme displeasure, if not _worse_. Indeed, Levi's general current demeanor gave off the impression that he was out for blood. 

Eren's friends at the table, sitting at the opposite side of him, took on faces of absolute fear. One of them tried to warn him that Levi was coming up right behind him, but Eren was too caught up in his own words to take heed. Therefore, what followed next was not something he would've known of. 

He did know when Levi gripped him by the shoulder and harshly yanked him out of his chair. The loud yelp that Eren gave out from hitting the floor got everyone's attention.

Armin himself was utterly appalled at what he'd just witnessed. It got even worse when Levi pulled him back up only to strike him in the lower stomach with his knee. Eren had been so caught off guard, all he could do during this sudden attack was squawk in pain. He looked about to see if anyone would help him, but no one dared to confront the Captain. 

Besides Mikasa, of course. When she saw Levi assaulting Eren, she was up to her feet, about to deal with him herself. But before she could so much as raise a fist, she was stopped by someone yelling. 

"Sit back down, Ackerman!" Commander Erwin had returned, and he looked to be _at least_ just as pissed as the Captain was. "I don't care how close you and Jaeger are; if you interfere with this, I'll hold you accountable for what he's done as well!" 

"What he's done?" Armin whispered to himself, not able to do much else besides that, being frozen in place from terror. He couldn't think of any particularly loathsome crime that Eren could possibly have committed, except...

Right away, he put two and two together. When he'd put together the pieces, he clasped his hands over his mouth, his eyes widening in turn. Now he was no longer merely appalled at this stunning and shocking revelation: he was totally and absolutely  _poleaxed_. 

Armin remained as such as Levi grabbed Eren by the leg and dragged him away, Eren fighting it the whole time. The Commander quickly followed.

...

It took a while for that spectacle to fade completely (and one of the newer recruits shouting " **What the fuck was that?!** "), before nearly everyone in the mess hall tentatively went back to chatting and eating.

Mikasa was one of those that didn't. Instead, she got to her feet once more and skittered off to where Eren had been taken. Armin practically had to command himself to go after her. By the time he got there, she was already kicking and banging on the locked door to Commander's office.  To her credit, she did stop when she saw Armin coming up to her. 

Behind the door, Erwin was loudly and sternly addressing Eren's recent actions. Armin stood by her side now, and pressed his ear against the door, trying to hear Erwin better. Although he wasn't shouting anymore, he could still clearly be heard through the thick wood. 

...

"Let me get this straight, Jaeger," the Commander while pinching the bridge of his nose, "you sabotaged Kirstein's 3DMG gear, which led to him _severely_ breaking his legs." 

Eren nodded. "Yes, I did." Although he remained as composed as he could, inside he was screaming in a variety of emotions. It was hard to stay seated on the stool he was using. 

"And due to this causing Kirstein great bodily harm, it has rendered him unable to continue in the Scouting Legion." 

"That's right." Then Eren tried pleading his case. "But it's not like I _wanted_ to cripple him during training! I just wanted to embarrass him in front of everybody!" Nothing could stop him once he got rolling; he kept repeatedly slamming his fists onto Erwin's desk. "I know he was trying to horn in on my friendship with Mikasa and Armin! I had to do _something_ to get that horse-faced usurper to knock it off! But the broken legs were an _accident_ , I _swear_!" 

An uncomfortable silence permeated the air when he was done hollering. Erwin and Levi were left incredulously stunned at his declaration. Then, Erwin ran his hands over his face and groaned. 

"This is horrible..." He grumbled to himself, before looking back at Eren again. "So you admit that you let a personal grievance take over your logical and rational thinking?"

The Commander sat into his chair and slumped forward, tapping one of his fingers against his desk (which clearly had seen better days). He let out a grumbling sigh, which sounded a bit like a bull about to attack. Then he threw a glance over at Levi. 

"Anything to add to all this, Captain, before I administer a punishment upon him?" 

Levi just stood out of the chair he'd been sitting in next to Erwin, and slowly walked out from behind the desk to approach Eren. He keep his hard gaze upon him the whole time, remaining so as he stood before him. Eren could've sworn that Levi stopped blinking, he was staring so intently at him. 

Eren was caught off guard, much like the last confrontation with the Captain, by a swift yet solid backhand across the face. Just like last time, he fell to the floor with another bruise starting to form. 

"Brat," he said to him in a low voice before sitting back down. Once he was seated again, Erwin proceeded with his plans. 

...

Mikasa and Armin listened in on Erwin's speech, becoming increasingly alarmed from what he was saying. Eren kept trying to continue pleading his case, but was silenced each time.

"Civilians may believe that you, a titan-shifter, are becoming unstable and therefore unreliable, should word of this reach the public. If you were known to attack your fellow soldiers whilst in human form, do you _honestly_ think that any of them would trust you, Jaeger?" 

"But Commander Erwin-" 

A loud slam against something hard. "I am doing this for the safety and peace of mind of everyone. Normally, I would inform the higher-ups first, but surely they'll exempt me for just this one time." What he said next, his punishment orders, struck hard against Mikasa and Armin's hearts. 

"As of today, you will no longer remain among the other soldiers. Instead, you will spend the rest of your days in prison. You will also be excluded from any missions until further notice, until you are no longer deemed an immediate threat towards the rest of your peers."

No longer able to hear any more, Armin stepped back a couple of paces. He grabbed hold of his head and lurched forward, his eyes filling with tears. His feelings about all this, that he was involved in some way, were proven right. Just not really in the way he thought. 

"I was right!" He wailed. "This _is_ all my fault! If I didn't try to make friends with Jean, none of this would've happened!" The memories of him and all of the missions he went on with Jean in the past flashed through his mind.

Mikasa reached out a hand to comfort him, or at least tried to. 

"Armin, please," she said to him while attempting to keep her own composure from failing. "Don't blame yourself for this-" 

But he didn't listen, nor did he stay around long to hear anything else she had to say. Without looking up at her, Armin turned and ran off; his sobbing could be heard down the hall he was going through.


	10. Chapter 10

Armin ran all the way to the sleeping quarters, ignoring the concerned and agitated comments from any soldiers he passed by. He didn't stop until he reached his bed. 

When he did, he clambered onto it and buried his face into his pillow. As he screamed and cried, Armin also began kicking his feet against the mattress like a petulant five year old. He knew the way he was acting was unfit for a boy his age, but right now he really didn't give a damn. There were reasons for carrying on like this. 

It was awful, having someone he was friends with since childhood do such a thing to another newer friend of his. No matter how often he thought through it, he still couldn't believe it. Now Armin didn't know what to do.

His chest also felt constricted, having the day start so well and end like this. Eventually, Armin quit kicking the mattress and just lay there, hiccuping and sobbing into his pillow. Then he quit doing  _that_ and merely lay there, feeling as if all the emotions had drained out of him. 

Soon, he dragged himself off of his bed, and trudged off to the infirmary in quite a listless manner. 

But he didn't really cheer up when he got there, seeing Jean eating his dinner. He actually burst into tears again, thinking of his supposed involvement in this. 

...

Jean ended up dropping his eating utensils when he heard Armin was in the room. He turned his head to see that he was in quite a distressing state. 

"Armin?" He set his dinner tray onto a table next to his bed, and tried to sit up a little better. "What's up?" 

His question led Armin to run over and collapse at his bedside. He started his weeping up all over again, his back shuddering in rhythm. 

"Uh..." Jean honestly had no idea what he could try to get Armin to stop crying. And even if he did know, his current state really limited his options. In the end, he settled on running his fingers through his long blond hair. That looked to calm Armin down a bit. 

"Hey, c'mon. What's got you all wound up? Did Sasha take your bread again without your permission?" Without looking up, Armin shook his head. Having to explain all this to him wasn't going to be very easy. 

...

Eren had the impression that all of this was a tad bit overkill. Maybe it was due to his status as a titan shifter. He couldn't think of any other reason for them going this far in restraining him. 

Not that it mattered. 

Right now, Eren was being pulled along via a rope tied to his neck, feeling very much like a cow being taken to slaughter. His arms were bound behind his back in a way deliberately meant to cause serious discomfort. 

Even if he also was blindfolded and gagged, Eren could hear the voices of his now former allies. A few of them sounded confused, but several others were sneering at him, and saying hurtful comments. 

" _That's_  the guy that made us go through all this bullshit?" 

"I hear he can turn into a Titan. I'm not surprised." 

"Hey, Jaeger! Who's next on your list of competition to eliminate? The captain?" This one was followed by a group of soldiers guffawing like idiots. 

Somewhere in the back, Eren could hear Mikasa struggling to break free of those that held her in an iron grip. They didn't want her to interfere, despite her fighting as hard as she could. 

"Ow!" One of the soldiers yell out. "The little bitch just bit me!" 

Some loud and angry murmuring ensued, leading Mikasa to be taken away in the opposite direction that Eren was. 

Mikasa may have been top of the class during their training days, but the way she was acting right now showed a far different girl. As Eren walked, her voice got farther and farther away from him. Before long, he couldn't hear her at all. All he _could_ hear now were the voices of those leading him away. 

"Damn," one of them said, "how fucked up do you have to be to go after another soldier?" 

"Apparently he did it to protect his friends," said another. "Guy can't even think of a good excuse, can he?" 

A third one snorted, before saying her piece. "I'll say! This guy has _friends_?! Are they _imaginary_ or something?!"

This went on until they all stopped walking, causing Eren to bump into one of them and elicit him saying, "Watch it, Jaeger!" 

Without warning, he was then pushed down what turned out to be a flight of stairs. Then there were the sneering remarks, and heartless laughter. 

"C'mon Jaeger, fight back!" 

"You got your fancy-ass Titan powers! Use 'em! Oh wait, you _can't_!" 

Eren was then grabbed by the hair, and got pulled a little ways before getting thrown to the ground again. A loud clanging noise followed. 

...

Jean was stunned by what he just heard. Armin hadn't actually gotten the chance to start up his explanation, however; the Captain and the Commander had come in at that point. 

"Kirstein?" Erwin addressed him in a no-nonsense tone. Armin was led out by Captain Levi, the other two remaining to discuss things. The two of them weren't out in the hallway all that long before Erwin started to talk with Jean. Then it was just awkwardly waiting as the other two had a mostly one-sided conversation. 

"Captain?" Armin whispered to Levi. "I...I don't know what to think about all this. I don't know what to do-" He interrupted himself with more blubbering, rendering his speech unintelligible. Levi simply waited for a good time to comfort him properly. 

It seemed to come with Jean practically exploding in rage from something Erwin told him. 

" ** _I'm gonna kill that bastard_**!" Was what could be heard. Then Armin and Levi heard Erwin loudly protesting something, and then a loud thud against the floor. A peek into the room showed that, ostensibly, Jean had momentarily forgotten that he couldn't walk right now. 

Once Armin leaned back from the doorway, he started crying  _again_. Levi, in a moment of compassion, wrapped his arms around the poor little blond boy. For good measure, he also rubbed and patted his back. 

...

Jean's mother hadn't really gone into his room ever since he left for the Survey Corps. Since he was coming home in a few weeks, however, she deemed it best to try and get it fixed up as much as she could. 

This was a little easier said than done, given that she was using it to store things. Jean's furniture was all still there, thankfully. She just had to carry out the stuff that didn't belong. 

As she cleaned, Miss Kirstein felt bad about the circumstances that led to her son returning home. She still didn't really know the whole story, just the aftermath. 

If nothing else, she got to meet Jean's friend Armin and spend time with him. He seemed nice enough. The boy respected his elders, at least. But either way, she'd be glad to see him again; it'd mean someone else she could visit besides Jean. 


	11. Chapter 11

Another week passed. 

Throughout this week, Armin saw neither hide nor hair of Eren _or_ Mikasa. Eren, he was well aware of what happened to him. But Mikasa was a complete mystery. Armin really hoped that she hadn't tried anything drastic in this time. Asking around didn't bring up any success. Neither did searching for himself. 

It also wasn't as if he weren't allowed to visit Eren; he simply wasn't quite certain if he actually should. The only thing he could think of to speak about was what exactly compelled Eren to do that to Jean. 

Each time Armin passed the stairwell leading to the underground prison (which he could've sworn _wasn't_ underground, but that was beside the point), his heart ached. Maybe if he went down there, he could find Mikasa. Or maybe the higher-ups barred her from going to see Eren. It was hard to say. 

There was only one way to know for sure, though. 

Looking briefly in the direction of the infirmary, Armin looked back to the stairs. Slowly, he took the first step down, hesitating each time he reached the next stair. Doing so meant it took him nearly five minutes to go down to a place that usually only took maybe less than one minute to get to. 

When he _did_ arrive at the prison floor, he was surprised at the temperature; despite being underground and the walls bearing torches, it was cold. Armin just shivered and pressed on, listening to his own footsteps against the stone floor. 

...

Jean was beyond pissed right now. He knew that suicidal bastard had a bone to pick with him, but never did he expect that he'd go this far. Had it not for his still healing legs, he'd go and teach him a lesson. 

The way he was snorting angrily and grabbing at his bedsheets somehow terrified _Hanji_. She only tried to be near him when changing his bindings, and even then she would try to find someone else to do it first. 

Nothing could seem to quell his simmering fury; not even visits from his other friends (which, given the lengths Connie and Sasha were willing to go to at this point in time, was really saying something). There were only two people who could even hope to bring him down a bit. And neither of them had arrived yet. 

It'd gotten so bad, Jean let out a scream of frustration several times in succession; he did so loud enough to frighten any other injured soldiers. To emphasize his anguish, Jean slammed his fists down at both his sides, then clutched his head and rapidly shook it back and forth. This went on for what felt like too long, only stopping when Jean's throat hurt from yelling so much. 

Then it died down into quiet weeping. 

Jean really hoped either his mother or Armin would get here soon. 

...

No matter how long he went without hearing them, Eren recognized Armin's footsteps anywhere. He could barely hold in his excitement when he realized that he was finally coming to see him. 

That excitement vanished when he saw Armin's face, though. The poor boy looked as though he had the life drained out of him. Considering the surrounding events of a couple weeks ago, he may as well have had that happen to him. 

"Eren?" Hearing his voice now was heartbreaking. 

"Armin! Hey." From the looks of things, Eren had gotten beaten up shortly before Armin showed up; he sported a serious black eye, along with a bloody nose and a few missing teeth. They _had_ to have been very recent, since Eren's healing ability hadn't kicked in yet. 

But healing ability or not, it couldn't help with how disheveled and pathetic he looked right now. 

"What, uh..." It was suddenly very awkward to talk to one of his best friends now. "What brings you here?" Even before Armin opened his mouth, Eren had a pretty good idea of what he was going to ask about. 

"I need to know, Eren," he said as he grabbed hold of the cell bars. "Why'd you do that to Jean?" It was a question that Eren had rehearsed over and over in his mind. Now that Armin was asking, however, he couldn't find the words. He fidgeted while thinking of another way to explain. 

"It was an accident! I just wanted to embarrass him in front of everyone! I messed with his gear to do that, but I didn't mean to have his legs smashed apart!" 

He stopped when he noticed Armin's lower lip trembling. 

"Why'd you want to embarrass him, then? I know the both of you don't get along, but..."

Eren sighed, and took a deep breath. "I didn't like how he was trying to become a part of the group. Ever since we were kids, it's just been you, me, and Mikasa! I didn't want that horse-fucking dickhole horning in and tainting it all! I thought if I humiliated him, he wouldn't want to be seen by everyone, and he'd leave us alone!" 

Going by the silence, Eren was certain that Armin wasn't really going to believe him. He was expecting Armin to erupt in some kind of rage now, asking him why in the world he would do that. 

That wasn't what he got, though. He actually got a thin, borderline reedy whisper of a voice. 

"I don't understand, Eren..." It almost sounded like the words were being forcibly choked out of him. "Are you saying you don't want me to have friends besides you and Mikasa?" It hurt him to even consider if that were the truth or not. 

"No!" Eren answered, perhaps a little too quickly. "I just...I didn't want  _him_ to be your friend! You deserve so much better than...than _that_!"

He tried getting to his feet, which was easier said than done on account of his hands still being tied up. "What would you have done if he tried to get even more friendly with you?! I didn't want you to have to submit to him! I didn't want _him_ to-" Eren silenced himself when he saw that Armin was now crying, and covering his ears to stop hearing him. 

"I just wanted to be a good friend to him, Eren! If that bothered you so much, why didn't you tell me?!" Armin then turned to run back to where he came from, ignoring all of Eren's pleas for him to come back. 

...

As of late, Miss Kirstein had been visiting the barracks so often, everyone had come to expect her by now. Some of the soldiers would even raise their hands and greet her with a friendly hello (and if the one called Sasha was there, Miss Kirstein was keen enough to bring her something to eat). 

Today, however, seemed a little different. When Jean's mother entered the main part of the barracks, it felt as though she'd walked right under a raincloud about to burst. This put her on edge. Still, she kept walking, thoroughly knowing the way to where Jean was by now. 

"Hm?" She stopped about halfway there when she heard plaintive crying getting closer to her. She didn't realize it was Armin until he ran into her, though. Or rather, Armin didn't see she was there. It took them both a few moments to get back to their feet, after shaking their heads to try and get them straightened up. 

 When Armin looked up to see that he'd barreled right into Jean's mother, he was mortified. Now he had _something else_ to cry about. 

"Oh, Armin!" Miss Kirstein stepped closer to him. "What is it, dear?" 

Armin sniffled before he answered. "I just...I'm sorry, I...!" 

"Oh now, there's no need to apologize for knocking me over-"

"It's not that, but I _am_ very sorry about that too!" Armin ended up wiping his nose, which had started running terribly. "I ended up talking to my friend Eren earlier, and...And...!" He couldn't finish before he was overtaken by tears once again. Without really thinking, he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her chest. 

Although Miss Kirstein was taken by surprise when he did that, she still let him cling to her. In turn, she returned his impromptu hug, patting his back and gently rocking him. Whatever it was that had him hysterical like this, she would try and calm him down as best she could. 


	12. Chapter 12

Armin wanted to kick himself right now for looking so pitiful in front of Jean's mother. He also wanted to just crawl into a hole and die. But he couldn't really do either of those right now. Not with Jean's mother hugging him, and now leading him by the hand out to a more open area outside. 

"I certainly hope your Commander won't mind me being here longer than usual today," she said to him as she looked for a place to sit down. "It looks as though I might have to." Armin simply kept his gaze averted, away from Miss Kirstein. Training had been cancelled today (he didn't remember why), so it was only the two of them out on the surprisingly well-kept yard. 

Finally, Jean's mother found a bench situated under a tree with decent shade, and gently pulled Armin over to it and took a seat. 

"Now," she said to him, "tell this old lady what's been bothering you today."

Armin sniffled and tried to calm himself down, his face beet red from crying and humiliation. "I...It's hard to explain-" 

"Then you don't need to go into details, if you don't want to. I would like to know a little bit, though, if that's alright with you?"

He figured he could grant her that much. "Well, like I said earlier, I was talking with my friend Eren, and..." Now Armin wasn't certain whether he should tell her what all happened, if she didn't know already. "Apparently, he did something horrible, and I think I'm to blame for it; I was the reason he did what he did. He and I have been best friends for years, and he never did anything like this until now! And now he's in prison, and I don't know what to do!" 

Armin just leaned forward and let Miss Kirstein hug him again. 

_**-a little while later-** _

"I can't believe I just went off like that," Armin said to Jean's mother as the two went to go visit Jean. "I must've embarrassed you a lot there." 

"Ohhh, believe me," she said to him. "I know full well what can be embarrassing; Jean had his share of tantrums when he was a baby. If I were even just a few minutes late with making his omelet for breakfast, he'd start screaming his little head off."

Armin then had the idea of what Jean would look like as a little boy. The image of a baby Jean crawling around and doing baby stuff was both amusing and endearing to him.

However, the image of that same baby in the throes of a temper tantrum, red-faced and howling, wasn't so nice. Especially when it then turned to current day Jean, on the day he shattered his legs. All of that made him want to throw up, it was so sudden. But he shook his head and kept it together as he followed behind Jean's mother to the infirmary. 

...

Making sure that she hadn't been followed (especially by Captain Levi), Mikasa tiptoed sneakily down the stairs into the dungeon. If she thought someone was coming her way, she slipped behind the nearest wall and hid until the footsteps were gone. Then she quickly ran to the prison cells when it looked to be all clear. Eren's back was turned toward the cell bars when she reached him. He didn't appear to notice her presence. 

With next to no sound, Mikasa reached into her scarf and pulled out a hand file. She then put it to the nearest cell bar and proceeded to try and saw it apart. The ungodly noise this created was enough to get Eren to jolt and look over his shoulder. 

"Mikasa?!" He cried in a loud whisper. "No, what are you doing?!" She paused in her makeshift jailbreaking and looked at him intently.

"You don't deserve to be in here, Eren, regardless of your actions," she said while returning to her work. "I'll bet that lots of soldiers have been responsible for accidents involving their friends." 

To say that Eren was terrified for Mikasa right now would be an understatement. 

"If someone finds you down here doing that, you'll get in serious trouble too! And I don't want that to happen if I can help it-" He was cut off by the sound of another pair of feet coming down the stairs. But instead of running, Mikasa just bore down and began sawing even faster. 

Despite her best efforts, she didn't appear to be making any real progress. The footsteps became closer, until Mikasa was then forced to give up. With a defeated look on her face, she pulled the hand file away and hid it back into her scarf. Without even being able to say goodbye to Eren, she then turned into the other direction and ran off. 

...

Jean didn't look too happy when his mother and Armin showed up; he in fact looked like he wanted to be somewhere else entirely. He had a mildly irritated look on his face, while staring up at the ceiling. 

"Um...Hi Jean," Armin said to him when he and Miss Kirstein were standing at his bedside. "Why so down?" 

Without moving his face, Jean pointed in front of his bed. At the other end of the room, Hanji was busy preparing a new set of bandages to wrap onto his legs. Indeed, looking back at Jean's legs revealed that they were bare, if seeming to be able to begin healing now. 

"Well, congrats, Mister Jean!" Hanji called out when she piled the bandages up and walked toward him with them. "It looks like you're a faster healer than initially thought! Guess you'll be up in no time! But for now, hopefully you can accept just being able to bend your knees." 

Jean scoffed, and crossed his arms while making a pout. "I can bend my knees. Yeah, that's going to make up for the fact that Jaeger tried to kill me."

Armin didn't say a word, and neither did Miss Kirstein. Both of them did watch as Hanji administered the new set of bandages, with her making certain they were just as tightened as the first few sets. 


	13. Chapter 13

Levi knew (or at least had a good idea) of what had transpired shortly before he arrived. No matter how sneaky Mikasa had thought she was being, he still caught a glimpse of her quickly going down the dungeon stairs. The only reason he hadn't run after her was because he was carrying hot soup. Still, he kept a stoic (if mildly sour) demeanor as he brought Eren his dinner. 

The pace he was going at sounded rather unsettling, if not downright frightening; one would believe he was some kind of zombie if they hadn't seen him otherwise. 

Eren could move back to his original position and stay there for as long as he liked; he wasn't fooling anybody. No amount of staring at the wall was going to trick Levi, either. 

When he entered the dungeon, Levi noticed something moving in the shadows, across the room. He suppressed an urge to snort at this obvious failure. He ignored it after that, though. 

The cooks evidently weren't too happy about  _still_ needing to make sawdust bread and watered down broth, specifically for Eren. Levi wouldn't be too surprised if it turned out one of them had spat in it. 

Although Levi cleared his throat to let Eren know he was there, Eren didn't look behind him. Rolling his eyes, Levi set the dinner tray onto the floor, sliding it into the prison cell with his foot. With his job done, Levi waited for Eren to acknowledge him. When he didn't, Levi turned to go. 

He'd deal with Mikasa later. 

...

Jean groaned in pain and discomfort as his mother and Armin helped with seeing how well he could bend his legs. Having not used them for several weeks now, it didn't feel right to be moving them again. 

"How's that feel, Jean?" Armin's question was met with Jean letting out a monotone sound, akin to that of a tree falling over. Armin lifted his leg up a bit more, which, going by Jean's sudden reaction and change in voice pitch, was too much. As expected, Jean wasn't all too pleased about that. 

"Dammit, Armin! Are you trying to kill me?!" Immediately, Jean regretted his outburst when Armin let go and flinched away from him. "Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry..." He facepalmed, not caring that he was cussing in front of his own mother. Slowly, Armin moved back to take hold of his leg again.

"I guess that means that still hurts, huh?" He tried to laugh it off, but it didn't sound too genuine. 

Jean nodded. "But I don't expect it to be fully healed after only like two weeks." Jean still felt bad for shouting at Armin like that. He couldn't look at either Armin or his mother now, he was so embarrassed. To try and show just how sorry he was, he remained quiet as the other two continued to work his legs for him. When one of them encountered a painful spot, he bit his lip to keep from crying out. 

...

Later that evening, Jean's mother had kept her word and remained long past her usual departure time. Nobody seemed to mind all that much, even if she got a few confused glances directed at her. Behind her, Armin followed with his head down, like a puppy that had just been scolded.  

"Miss Kirstein?" He was still mulling over earlier, when Jean snapped at him. Miss Kirstein let out a "Hm?" noise, as she stopped and turned to look at him. "What are you going to do when Jean goes back home?" Jean's mother looked off to the side, then somehow made it seem as if she'd read Armin's mind. 

"If you're still upset about earlier, don't worry. He's had those moments. I won't lie, however; it does break my heart when he does that, especially to one of his own friends.

"If he directs it towards me, well...It still hurts immensely, but I can handle it. He's simply at that age, is all." She stepped a little closer to him. "But when it's one of his friends, somehow, that hurts me even more. Try not to take it _too_ personally, though." 

Miss Kirstein was then contemplating something else, then looked as if she'd gotten an idea. "Tell you what: if I go to your Commander and ask his permission, could you perhaps come with me again to my house in Trost? I could use some help in setting Jean's room back up the way he had it." 

Now Armin looked thoughtful, and slightly nodded. "Unless Commander Erwin intends to send me on a mission in the next few days, I think he'll let me."

...

Eren hadn't even bothered attempting to eat dinner with his arms bound behind his back. Chances are he didn't even notice that tray was there, considering he just flopped over onto his side and proceeded to moan in frustration over his current plight. 

Besides that one time, Armin hadn't come to visit. Anyone that came through the dungeon (whether to visit one of their friends, or just using it as a shortcut), Eren demanded that they tell him where Armin was. All that did, however, was irritate everybody and try to keep themselves away from him. In time, he just stopped trying. 

He didn't stop with the crying, though. 

Despite his best efforts, Eren came to the conclusion that Armin had finally been brainwashed by Jean and his so-called 'friendship'. He tried to convince himself otherwise, but the thought remained. Mikasa hadn't come back yet (he hoped she hadn't been caught after her attempt to free him from his cell), and Eren was really starting to lose it. 

" ** _Armin, you traiiiiiiiitoooooor_**!" He yelled out, leading to someone on the floor above him stomping on the ceiling above him and shouting, "Quiet down there!" 

With nothing else left to do, Eren just stayed on his side, quietly weeping to himself. He didn't actually mean what he said. He still loved Armin. But now, he could put a name to that odd feeling he kept getting when he picked on Jean. That feeling that would always come and conflict with the pride and amusement he felt: 

It was guilt. 


	14. Chapter 14

It was awfully strange to be sleeping in somebody else's room, let alone their bed. Thanks to Jean's mother convincing him and Commander Erwin, though, that was precisely what Armin was doing that night. He lay under the bed sheets, which smelled as if they'd only been recently washed (Miss Kirstein probably did that sometime earlier). 

But he couldn't actually get to sleep. It didn't feel right; Armin was probably just that used to the barracks sleeping quarters by now. Regardless, he just lay on his side and stared at the wall right in front of his face. At least the bed was comfy. 

In the other room, Armin could hear Miss Kirstein rummaging about, putting things away and other somesuch. At one point, he heard something _break,_ followed by Jean's mother groaning sadly and a broom sweeping up the pieces. A quick glance towards the door showed that there was still some kind of light source present. 

When the noises stopped, Armin heard Miss Kirstein's footsteps approaching the doorway. Quickly, he turned back to face the wall and closed his eyes, and tried to feign deep sleep by slowing down his breathing. 

Even with his eyes closed and his back to her, though, Armin could sense that Jean's mother was holding a candle while checking on him. Going by the silence for the duration of her standing there, he must've been successful in his attempt at faking it. 

"Poor thing..." He could hear her say now. "He's lost so much..."

For reasons that even he couldn't comprehend, Armin ended up telling Jean's mother about his own life. He spared no details, including his parents' deaths and his grandfather, who had named and raised him before his own demise. It sounded as if the only real family he had left were his friends Eren and Mikasa. And even then he was starting to question the former of those two. 

Armin half expected Miss Kirstein to walk in and try to wake him. But she didn't. Instead, she stepped back out and closed the door as quietly as she could. Once she was gone, the room was left in darkness again. 

This time, he was able to properly descend into slumber. 

...

Although she risked further punishment, Mikasa stood near the dungeon entrance while it was late at night. She didn't bother taking a lantern or similar light source; there was too much trouble wandering out past curfew anyway. She had intended to return and continue her efforts to break Eren free from his cell, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. 

Not with the dungeon entrance closed up and locked tight. She looked for any kind of weakness she could exploit, but found nothing. 

Mikasa was honestly starting to be at her wit's end; she had promised Eren's mother that she'd protect him at all costs. This, of course, meant remaining at his side even if he'd done something grievously wrong. Therefore, she persisted. She wondered if perhaps she should've brought a lantern after all, though. 

Eventually, Mikasa resorted to just punching the door, having quickly run out of ideas. This, of course, was something she _really_ shouldn't have done; she ended up causing an ungodly amount of noise by banging her fist against the thick wood. It was enough noise to attract the attention of those on duty. 

"I heard it from over here!" Someone could be heard shouting. In a mild panic, Mikasa quickly ran back up the stairs and back to the sleeping quarters. 

She'd have to come back when it was light out. 

...

It didn't matter to Jean that he hadn't waited long enough to let his legs heal completely. He still was trying to keep himself on two feet, and making baby steps toward his goals. 

Or at least he wanted to. All that really happened was him suffering excruciating pain, and toppling over. Despite Hanji's warning him not to do that, he kept it up, risking further injury and possibly rendering his recovery process completely moot. It was embarrassing to be found on the floor after one of his ill-fated attempts. 

"I know I said you're a fast healer, Mister Kirstein," she said while picking him up after his latest blunder, "but you're not _that_ fast. You keep this up, and you really _aren't_ going to walk again." Jean said nothing, just scowled as he let himself be lifted up by Hanji thrusting her arms underneath his armpits. 

In time, it had gotten to the point where Hanji had to strap Jean's legs and waist down so he wouldn't keep trying to walk too early. Suffice to say, it was very uncomfortable, having his already limited mobility be restricted even further. Trying to sit up to remove the restraints was pointless; Jean simply couldn't reach them. 

With little else to do besides sleep and whine, doing both was precisely what Jean did. First he let out a noise that sounded like a dying cow, then he closed his eyes to let sleep take him away for a little while. 

...

When he awoke the next morning, Armin could smell breakfast being made, which momentarily confused him. Usually, he wasn't able to smell that. Then he remembered he wasn't at the barracks this morning; he had ended up staying the night at Jean's house in Trost instead. 

Rolling over in the nice fluffy bed (certainly much nicer than the rock hard cots back at the barracks), Armin was starting to understand why Jean had initially wished for a cushy life in the Interior. He actually didn't want to get up. 

At that moment, the door opened, and he didn't _have_ to get up; Jean's mother walked in with a simple tray of an omelet and a glass of milk, a kindly smile across her face. 

"I thought maybe you'd want something decent to eat before you go back today," she told him as she approached the bed. "Jeanbo's told me the breakfasts over there aren't exactly something to write home about. From what I've seen first-hand, I'm inclined to agree with him." 

Miss Kirstein handed the tray over to Armin, and then dragged a nearby chair over to sit next to him. As she did, Armin stared at what was before him now. If he hadn't known the circumstances behind everything (including the last few years), he'd have assumed that he had been living a normal life. 

Grabbing a fork and knife that sat next to the plate, Armin lifted up an arm to rub against his eyes. He hoped that Miss Kirstein would think it was from sleepiness, and not from the tears that suddenly began to surge from his eyes. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops I made this a bit longer than usual didn't I

In time, Hanji finally permitted Jean to try and walk again. Apparently, she figured that he'd waited long enough. Or she just got tired of his whining, it was honestly kind of hard to tell at that point. 

Whatever her reasoning was, it got Armin preparing to help Jean now. Right away, it became obvious that the lack of exercise was taking its toll; Jean was almost impossible to get sat upright. Unfortunately, that was the _easy_ part. 

"All right, you got a good enough hold on me?" Armin hoped the grip he had on Jean's hips was sufficient to keep him upright. He also made sure that Jean had his hands properly secured on his shoulders. Not that it really mattered in the end. Their first few attempts ended badly; Armin was reminded, once again, of just how heavy Jean was.

It took a bit of willpower and upper body strength (the latter of which Armin didn't exactly have a lot of) to get out from under him, and try again. 

Neither of them expected to make much progress on the first day of rehabilitation, but Jean was stubborn and persistent. He didn't even want to take a break, he was that determined to walk again. Armin had to actually convince him to stop every once in a while. 

When Jean's mother arrived, she too ended up keeping him from overexertion. It was during one such break with Miss Kirstein and her son that Armin decided to finally go and see Eren again. He hadn't gone to see him since that one time. 

...

The underground dungeon still felt drafty and unfriendly as Armin walked through. He expected Mikasa to show up somewhere, but he didn't see her anywhere nearby. This time, Eren wasn't at all enthusiastic about Armin's presence. He didn't so much as acknowledge him there, let alone greet him; he just kept his back turned and facing the prison cell bars. From what Armin could see, they _still_ hadn't untied him. 

"Eren?" No response. " _Eren_?" This time Armin was certain he saw Eren briefly glance over at him, before going back to averting his gaze. It hurt a lot to be snubbed like this. Still, Armin was desperate to fix things. 

"Say something, Eren. Please say something, anything-" But he was cut off, perhaps a little too rudely, by whoever it was on duty.

"It ain't visiting hours, Arlert," came the gruff voice (probably Shadis again, or someone from the Military Police). With that, Armin was thwarted, and forced to leave. At least he knew why Mikasa wasn't there yet. 

...

The next attempt to make amends came a few days later, when there wasn't anybody guarding the dungeon. This time Armin went early in the morning, before he visited Jean, and before Miss Kirstein showed up. But again, he was unable to; he'd forgotten that the door was locked before a soldier was put on duty. 

Surprisingly enough, he didn't know enough about lockpicking (he'd always thought it was wrong to learn it, for some reason), so he had to come back later. He did note that someone must have tried to break in at some point, going by the shoddy effort to try and fix the door of its inexplicable damage. 

Jean's mother was early today, with yet another bundle of baked goods sitting on her lap. Armin was a bit surprised that she didn't run her own restaurant, what with all the food she'd been making in general. For Jean, he didn't seem all that happy with her constantly doing this. 

"You keep bringing that stuff," he said to her with a definite edge in his voice, "I'm gonna get fat...Well, _fatter_." To this, Miss Kirstein just grinned, although there was something a little off about it. It were almost as though she was mocking her own son. 

"Well, you're in luck, Jean-Boy," she told him, "I didn't bring this for _you_." As though on some theatrical cue, Armin finally entered the infirmary, immediately catching the eye of both Kirsteins. Right away, Miss Kirstein was on her feet, giving Armin a more genuine smile as she walked over to him. "And there he is!" 

Armin was a little surprised as she handed him the bundle she'd been holding. She had to have made it shortly before leaving the house; it was still nice and warm. Seeing this looked to make Jean switch from petulance to forlornness. 

"Can I have a piece?" He asked in a small voice while reaching out to them. 

...

One last time, another few days later, Armin tried to go see Eren. Neither the door was locked, nor was there anyone on guard duty. Working with Jean was done for the day, so Armin didn't really have anything else to do until lights out. Nobody looked to be around, so going in unnoticed was easy. 

This time, Mikasa had definitely been there already: Armin could see evidence she'd tried to break Eren out again. If nothing else, he could praise her tenacity in this situation. 

Same as the first time, Eren was facing the wall, away from the cell bars. If Armin didn't know any better, he could've sworn that Eren hadn't moved a muscle in the last fortnight or so. 

"Eren?" Armin made sure to be as clear as he could be, so he knew for sure that Eren heard him. "Say something..." But Eren did not heed Armin's words. Armin, however, persisted. 

"Please say something to me, Eren. I need to know why you won't talk to me-" He stopped when he could hear sniffing, quickly followed by a disgusted groan. When Eren did turn to look at Armin, his face was scrunched up in displeasure, a look that didn't really fit him all that well. 

"You've been hanging around that horse's ass again!" He declared a bit too loudly. "I can smell him on you! I _told_ you he was going to brainwash you _and_ take advantage of you!" 

Armin flinched a bit, before attempting to explain what really happened. "He didn't do any of that, Eren. All I've been trying to do is help him! I've been trying to talk with you and visit you, but things kept coming up, and..." This wasn't all a complete lie. There had been lectures and training to deal with, on top of helping Jean learn to walk again. His chances to try and visit the last few weeks had been few and far between. But this wasn't good enough for Eren. 

"I can't believe he got to you! For crying out loud, Armin, you and I have been friends for way longer than you've even _known_ that horse-fucking jackass!" Once again, an indoor voice seemed to be the last thing Eren was able to use right now. He was getting so worked up, Armin couldn't get a word in edgewise. 

"If he means _sooo_ much to you," Eren continued, his eyes getting a bit crossed, "then maybe you don't need me and Mikasa anymore! Maybe you can just forget about me and her, the people in your life who actually _cared_ about you!

"Now get lost!" To emphasize his point, Eren turned his nose up. "I don't make friends with traitors." 

Eren didn't seem to understand just how deeply his words hurt; each thing he said was like a knife through Armin's chest. When it looked as though he wasn't going to take back what he just said, Armin took a step backwards. Then he turned to leave the way he'd come in from. 

By the time he was halfway through the dungeon, Eren had finally calmed enough to think somewhat more rationally; at least enough to realize how terrible the things he'd just said were. Quickly, he flopped backwards and forced himself to look through the bars. 

"Armin, wait!" He cried out after him. "Come back, I didn't mean any of that! _Armin_!" But Armin didn't turn back. Rather, he covered his ears and began running. He didn't stop until he reached the door, and slammed it shut behind him. 

The silence that followed was unbearable. Eren could only lay where he'd fallen, and start crying. Thanks to his unpleasant viewpoint of Jean (along with generally being a paranoid little shit), Eren was faced with the possibility that he'd just driven away his best friend; one he'd had since childhood. 

...

By the time Jean was declared able to go home, it had become winter outside. The soldiers were all dressed in their outerwear and other things to keep themselves warm. Jean himself was bundled up in a couple of blankets, his mother inadvertently having taken his winter wear. He stared down at his feet, which remained uncovered for now. 

Next to him on the carriage ride home, Armin was similarly wrapped in warm clothing. He wasn't sure if it were the doing of embarrassment, or all the warm clothes, but he felt himself blushing. He leaned over to the side to rest his head on Jean's shoulder, causing Jean to blush as well. 

It was nightfall when the carriage stopped. Upon reaching Jean's house, Armin jumped out first. He kept an eye out as he waited for Jean to reach the end (he was still rather wobbly, in addition to his limping). Slowly but surely, he was getting there. 

When Jean reached the edge, however, he somehow tripped and fell to the ground, landing facedown. Taken a bit off guard by this, Armin tried his best to pull him back up to his feet and lead him inside. Once inside, Armin shed all his outerwear to reveal his civilian outfit, which had been chosen by Mikasa (weirdly enough, she was still perfectly willing to interact with Armin. She just never brought up Eren to him, like she knew doing so would be a bad idea).

Jean's mother wasn't home right now, and wouldn't be for at least a few hours; first she had to sign paperwork to confirm that her son was indeed discharged from the scouts. After that, she was going to get things to help Jean settle back home a little easier. Whatever her reasons were, it meant that the two of them had the house to themselves for awhile. 

Waiting for Jean to pull his boots off, Armin took the opportunity to look around the main room he was standing in (he didn't really have the chance to last time he was there). From what he saw, things were rather simple enough looking. There weren't any signs of anyone besides Jean and his mother living in this house. He wondered why that was the case. 

Armin was interrupted then, by Jean suddenly wrapping his arms around him. The feeling of such an action was bringing his blush back already. 

"Jean, what-" But he was shushed right away. By now, Jean had removed the blankets surrounding him, throwing them off somewhere to the side. He kept Armin close to his chest, pulling him in. 

"Just wanted to say thanks for helping me out throughout all this," Jean murmured, rubbing Armin's back for a few moments before pulling back to look at him better. The two locked eyes, as Jean placed his hand under Armin's chin and gently lifted it up to get a better look at him. 

At that moment, it looked as if both of them were thinking the exact same thing; when Armin leaned in closer, Jean did the same. As a result, their lips met somewhere in the middle. After briefly pulling back for air, said moment between the two became more heated and passionate. 

It seemed as though Eren's suspicions weren't as unfounded as initially thought. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bahahahahaha this is filthy and now this work is super adult now because of it

No sooner than reaching Jean's bedroom door were he and Armin embraced and kissing once more, with Armin wrapping his arms around Jean's neck. He could feel Jean's hands slipping down his pants, moaning when he felt them both grab hold of his rear. He was already so desperate, so awash in anticipation towards what he and Jean were about to do. He could feel and hear his heart pounding in his ears. 

Jean pulled his hands back out when he decided he was done playing grab-ass. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Armin's torso, holding him close and burying his face into the crook of his shoulder. 

Armin couldn't help moaning just a little more when he felt Jean start pressing kisses onto his neck, working his way upwards to his jaw. While he was doing that, he pulled away a little bit to begin unbuttoning the shirt he was wearing. Once it had been discarded and thrown to the floor, he pulled back completely and gazed into Armin's strikingly blue eyes. 

Even though neither of them actually said anything, it was clear both had the same thought in regards to the other: 

_I love you._

Carefully, almost too much so, Jean started undoing the buttons on Armin's own shirt. 

"You seem like you've done this before," Armin murmured. This made Jean pause halfway through. 

"Yeah, I uh..." He almost seemed to be ashamed now. "I might've fooled around with Marco a few times before he..." He trailed off, leading Armin to press his flattened palms against the sides of his face. 

"It's alright if you did," he said. "I'd actually have been surprised if it turned out you didn't." Then Armin let his hands trail down Jean's arms, eventually placing them atop his hands. Jean took this as a cue to keep going, quickly getting Armin's shirt off and tossing it somewhere in his room. After that followed their pants, leaving them both in only their shorts now. 

Now Armin briefly took the initiative, pulling Jean down closer to his face and kissing him determinedly. As he did, he dragged his fingers down Jean's chest and stomach, marveling at just how well-built he was. As for Jean, he couldn't believe he had such a beauty wrapped up in his arms. He couldn't figure out how he was so lucky to have him here. 

...

Carefully, trying not to stumble too much, Jean pushed Armin against the nearest wall, where the two of them continued making out. Armin could feel Jean's hands rubbing over his nipples as they did so, causing him to moan and arch his back, pulling away. 

"Jean...!" Hearing his name being said in such a pleasing way drove Jean to want to hear more. He switched to just his thumbs, beginning to make an effort to kneel down, which of course was easier said than done.

"Jean?" The second time Armin said his name, it was out of worry over potentially injuring himself. 

Trying to soothe his fears, Jean gave him a strained grin as he settled onto his knees. 

"I'm good, relax. Just let me do this, okay?" Biting his lip, Armin just nodded. He then leaned back and let Jean get back to what he was doing. 

He gasped and closed his eyes when Jean started rubbing his cheek against his still clothed erection, then mouthing him through the fabric. 

Jean evidently had a thing for teasing. He at least was making it enjoyable teasing. He smirked at the wet spot forming on Armin's underwear, before reaching down and flicking it with one of his fingers.

"Agh!" The noise that Armin made from that actually sounded like it hurt. To show he didn't like that, he reached down and grabbed hold of Jean's wrists, shaking his head. When Jean saw this, his smirk faded. Now he looked embarrassed and guilty, glancing away from Armin with his face all red. To show that he wasn't mad, he gently grasped Jean's chin, and made him look up again.

"Just don't do  _that_ , okay?"

Jean nodded. "M'kay." Now he was trying to figure out what he should do next. Shaking his wrists free, he placed his hands on both sides of Armin's shorts. 

Again, he looked up. When Armin nodded to give him the okay, Jean smiled warmly and started pulling down his underwear. He ended up leaning away when Armin's cock was freed, otherwise it probably would've taken his eye out or something. He then continued pulling down Armin's shorts, slipping them off easily and tossing them aside, leaving Armin totally naked before Jean's eyes. 

"Ohhh  _fuck_ , you're gorgeous," Jean whispered huskily as he pressed his face into one of Armin's inner thighs, and nuzzled it. He couldn't wait to get inside him and fuck that perfect little body of his. But first, he was going to take his time with him, to make sure Armin was having a good time too. 

...

Armin let out a series of quiet moans as Jean brushed his lips softly against his sensitive skin, planting gentle kisses as he worked his way up. The higher he went, the heavier Armin's breathing seemed to be getting. 

That heavy breathing suddenly turned into a high-pitched shout, once Jean's tongue started sliding up Armin's cock, and over its sensitive head. He could feel him alternating between firm licks, and puffs of hot air on the head of his dick. 

"Oh, Jean!" Armin groaned, trying not to get too screechy as Jean gradually slid his dick into his mouth, feeling it enveloped in that perfect warmth. For awhile, there weren't any proper words spoken, just Armin's moaning accompanied by the wet sounds Jean was creating from bobbing his head back and forth. It was music to their ears. 

Armin closed his eyes as he started running his fingers through Jean's messy hair. While he did that, he could feel Jean lift up one of his legs and drape it over his shoulder. He did this while completely taking in Armin's dick, then burying his nose into his blond pubic hair. 

"Ha...Haaa..." It was almost insane, how wonderful Jean was with his mouth. Armin switched to massaging Jean's scalp with his fingertips. For Jean himself, he just kept going, tasting the precum that trickled out of Armin's cock.

Occasionally he looked up to gauge his reaction. Each time, Armin seemed to be in absolute bliss. His cheeks were flushed red, his chest was heaving with deep breaths. When he was able to see them, Armin's eyes were darkened with sheer lust, also getting unfocused just a bit. 

Jean could feel a sense of pride, knowing it was he that brought Armin to this stage of pleasure. If he could freeze any moment in time, it'd be this one. He enjoyed being in between Armin's thighs, bringing him closer and closer to the edge. Feeling him grab his hair now and tugging it felt pretty good too. 

Soon, Armin couldn't take any more. With a shuddering cry, he tilted his head back and let go. Jean's expression softened as he swallowed every bit of Armin's cum, relishing in its unique flavor while moaning in satisfaction. After he pulled off of him, he went back to nuzzling the inner thigh resting on his shoulder. 

He pulled away once more after pressing a kiss onto Armin's skin, and struggled back up to his feet. 

...

"Get on the bed," he whispered in such a way that sent tremors down Armin's spine. "On your knees."

Armin complied without hesitation. He shuddered in anticipation when doing what he was told. That trembling became more pronounced after feeling the mattress dip behind him with Jean's weight. He gasped in surprise as a warm pair of hands snaked up the front of his body, leading him to relax and leaned back into Jean's arms. 

His blush returned when he felt Jean softly and tenderly kiss from his shoulder to his temple. It got even deeper when Armin heard him whispering sweet nothings into his ear. It made him feel hot all over, with a pulsating sensation in his hips. 

Jean was then reaching back to look through something, and grab something else. Armin had a good idea of what that was. He turned his head forward again and waited for Jean to get things prepared. It still caught him off guard when he felt one of Jean's now lubed-up fingers tapping at his hole. After the initial jolt of surprise, though, he did his best to relax. 

"J-Jean...Ngh...!" He took several deep breaths, now leaning on all fours as though presenting himself. Once he felt that first fingertip press into him, Armin grabbed at the bedsheets in some way to keep himself focused, as Jean pushed his finger all the way in. 

"Doing alright?" Jean asked him when he was pumping that finger back and forth. 

Armin really didn't want to lie to him. "It hurts. And it feels really weird." Hearing this got Jean to pause.

"You want me to stop?" This question made Armin's eyes widen. Armin looked up at him and shook his head. 

"No. Just...keep going, please. I'll be fine." He lay his head onto his arms now. "I'll let you know if I want you to stop." With that approval, Jean kept going with his task at hand. 

Soon enough, Armin was getting used to Jean fingering him. It was even starting to feel really good. He moaned as Jean added another finger, stretching him out more. By the time he'd gotten as relaxed as he could get, Armin was feeling three of Jean's lubed-up fingers plunging in and out of him. 

"Jean," he panted as he could feel himself beginning to get hard again. "Jean, please! I-I want more!" To this, Jean leaned in on top of him. 

"Eh, not yet," he whispered into Armin's ear, a bit of a mischievous tone to his voice. "I'm looking for something." Armin was about to ask what he was looking for, but was stopped when one of Jean's fingers brushed up upon that one particular spot inside him. His reaction was to cry out in surprise and pleasure.

" _There_  it is," Jean cooed into Armin's ear. He stroked it a few more times to Armin's overwhelming joy. 

Going by how easily his fingers were moving, and by how Armin was reacting, Jean figured that Armin was plenty ready. He slowly, carefully pulled his fingers out, before taking out his cock and slathering it with whatever he was using as lubricant (probably some kind of oil, Armin wasn't entirely certain). 

With the same amount of care that he had been displaying throughout all of this, Jean pressed the tip of his dick against Armin's hole. He used one hand to guide himself in, the other to reach forward and wrap his arm around Armin's torso, slowly lifting him back up to his knees. Armin himself was still breathing heavily, keeping himself calm as Jean entered him. 

...

It felt like an eternity before Jean pushed himself all the way into Armin. When he  _was_  completely inside him, he stayed still in order to help Armin get used to it (he didn't want to cause too much pain from being fairly big). Armin, of course, was just trying to get him to move, going by the attempts to push up into Jean's front. 

He couldn't resist it when he was reacting that way. Getting a better grip on his hips, Jean started moving. 

"Ah! Jean!" Armin cried out, when Jean started pumping himself into him. "Ahhh! S-so big!" 

He loved all of it: Jean pressing in deep and filling him up. The way he could hit that internal spot of his quite well. His warm hands moving up and pinching his nipples. 

"Ngh! Ooh, Jean! Yes, yes!" Were it not for the limitations of the human body, Armin would've begged to be fucked literally all night. He simply couldn't get enough of him. This became even more so when one of Jean's hands reached back down and proceeded to jerk him off. The other hand trailed up, grabbing hold of Armin's shoulder and holding him against Jean's chest. This was followed by Jean sucking on his other shoulder. The whole time, Armin begged Jean for more. 

It all came together when climax hit: Armin's wordless shout from once more reaching his limit, courtesy of Jean. Him listening to Jean's cries and grunts as he too reached his peak. The sensation of warm cum spurting deep inside him, and filling him. 

Slowly, Jean now began pulling out, letting a small amount of his cum leak out onto his sheets. Armin gave a whimper now that Jean was no longer inside of him. Then he went quiet when Jean's hands turned him over. 

...

Armin grinned while Jean flipped him onto his back. The way he looked now, all naked and sweaty and his golden hair spread out on the pillow, was a sight to behold. Jean returned that grin as he ended up dragging himself forward to lay at Armin's side. He didn't even bother stuffing his dick back into his underwear, and sprawled out next to him. Jean then lifted up the hand that he'd used to get Armin off, showing that he hadn't wiped the cum off it yet. 

To Armin's mild disgust, he watched Jean lick it off, the latter waggling his eyebrows while looking him right in the eyes. He did it in such a deliberately slow manner, that it was almost painful to keep watching. So instead, Armin took hold of his wrist and started licking some of it off himself. He actually didn't mind the taste of his own semen. 

Once their faces were close enough (and Jean's hand was cleaned up), the two's lips met once more. Then, they embraced again, rolling around the bed while running their hands over every inch of skin they could. 

Neither wanted to let the other go; they were afraid to lose each other, as though this were all some kind of wonderful dream. If it  _were_  a dream, then neither of them wanted to wake up from it. The two continued their deep kisses for what didn't feel like long enough, before the heaviness of sleep came forth and descended upon them both. 

Armin's eyes started drooping when he pulled away from Jean's face, trying not to yawn and end up giving Jean the wrong idea. Of course, it looked like Jean was feeling the same way, given the tired smile he was now giving him. Feeling his fingers drag across his cheeks, Armin returned that smile, and huddled up so his face was closer to Jean's. Both of them nuzzled their noses together, before settling back and falling asleep, still in each other's arms. 

Nothing could stir them now.

Not even the door to Jean's room opening some time later. 


	17. Chapter 17

Jean's mother wasn't quite able to totally comprehend what she was looking at. She could only stare wide-eyed, before cautiously opening the door wider and stepping in to get a closer look. 

All around the room, Jean and Armin's clothes had been thrown about rather carelessly. The two boys themselves were asleep in Jean's bed, entangled in the bedsheets and each other's arms. It was pretty obvious what had happened while she was gone. For a few moments, Miss Kirstein kept staring, wringing her hands and contemplating whether or not to awaken them. 

Then she saw Armin shiver, possibly from the frigid air seeping in through the partly open window, so close to him and Jean. Miss Kirstein just grimaced at this, before getting an idea. Making as little noise as possible, she stepped back out of her son's bedroom, and made her way to her own. When she got there, right away she was searching for something. 

"I know I have it around here somewhere," Jean's mother whispered to herself, while rummaging through various piles of things she'd kept over the years. 

Finally, while kneeling on the hard wooden floor, she found what she was looking for. 

...

It seemed far too long since the last time Miss Kirstein had ever opened her old chest of clothes and other things. She'd almost completely forgotten what she even all had in it. Nonetheless, she dug through the folded clothes and blankets, grabbing some things she presumed would be good enough. 

First brought out was a set of Jean's old clothes, ones that he hadn't worn in years. Miss Kirstein also pulled out an old, thick quilt she'd gotten some time back. 

When Jean's mother got everything folded up and stacked neatly, she went back to Jean's room. Neither he nor Armin had woken up once in the time she was gone. To this, she sighed in relief. 

First off, of course, was closing that damn window. Jean's mother didn't understand why he insisted on having it open during such cold weather. 

Grabbing the clothes off atop the quilt, Miss Kirstein set them onto a nearby table that Jean had in his room. Then she tiptoed over to grab one of Jean's current outfits, and set it next to those. She kept looking over to see if either of them would begin stirring. They didn't, leading her to pick up the quilt and walk over to the bed. As she did, she unfolded it and revealed just how big it really was. Carefully, she lay it over the two of them, tucking it up to their chins. 

Out of some compelling she couldn't put an exact name to, she leaned in and kissed Jean on the forehead. She turned her head and did the same for Armin. 

As quietly as she came in, Jean's mother left the two of them be and closed the bedroom door, picking up their dirty clothes on the way. 

...

Early the next morning (it was barely dawn out), Armin woke up to the soft snoring that was coming from Jean still sleeping next to him. He also woke up to some degree of soreness. That part was unpleasant, but he'd been expecting that. What he  _didn't_  expect was the extra bedding on top of them. He just figured one of them got a hold of it during the night and forgot about it. 

As much as he really didn't want to leave the warmth of everything around him, Armin crawled out from underneath the covers, untangling himself from Jean's arms as he did. He didn't wake up, thankfully. 

Once Armin was out of bed and standing, he couldn't help but watch Jean snoozing away, evidently enjoying his current trip to Dreamland. It was so cute. Not cute enough to stop him from getting dressed, however.

Much to Armin's horror, though, his clothes were gone. He looked to the bedroom door, really not wanting to risk Jean's mother seeing him completely naked. Frantically, he looked about the room for something that he could use to cover up with. 

Thankfully, it didn't take him long to see a couple of shirts and pants on the table, waiting to be picked up and worn. Reaching over, he grabbed the smaller of the two sets and put them on, to a snug yet tolerable fit. Now that he actually had clothes on, he walked out of the bedroom into the main room of the house. 

Miss Kirstein was seated at the table, resting her chin on her raised hands while staring at an empty vase at the center of the table. She glanced over when Armin came in looking for breakfast. Besides a couple of strangely awkward 'good mornings', neither of them said anything to each other.

That silence was quickly broken, though, when Armin found some pastries (he didn't mind that they were all day-old) on the counter, by Jean's mother of course: 

"Jean's father has never been in his life." 

"Hm?" Armin just grabbed a couple of pastries (he didn't want to seem too greedy) and sat down in the chair opposite her. 

She continued, seemingly in the midst of weaving some kind of tale in her head. "Jean's father was a widower, an older man. Much,  _much_ older. I think back then I was only a year older than his eldest child." Miss Kirstein looked quite ashamed and embarrassed to admit this. Armin just cringed, but tried not to make it look obvious, lest it seem as if he were judging her. 

"I was young and stupid. He'd tell me all these sweet words, give me all sorts of fancy gifts, the whole thing. And of course, I believed everything he said. 

"...You're a smart boy. I don't suppose I need to tell you how  _that_  went." She watched Armin while he quietly took a bite of one of his pastries, and let him comment when his mouth was clear. 

"He never followed through on his promises?" 

Miss Kirstein nodded somberly. "I found out I was pregnant about two months after I last saw that man. I was such a wreck. To be twenty years old, unmarried and pregnant with no father in tow; it isn't exactly a kind of life anyone would really dream about.

"I ended up having some very dark thoughts back then. After all, who'd care about a woman like me, or her illegitimate child? Going by that mindset, I wondered things like..." She trailed off.

Armin tried to prompt her to continue. "Like what? What were you thinking about back then?"

Jean's mother lifted one of her hands up to her face, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Things like taking my own life." Telling Armin this appeared to break something within her. Armin reacted by leaning back and clapping both hands over his mouth, his eyes even larger than normal. 

"What stopped you?" He asked when he'd recovered from that momentary shock. 

Again, Miss Kirstein wiped her tears away. "To be quite honest, Armin, I think it was Jean himself. I'd gotten as far as putting the knife to my skin, before I realized how utterly selfish I was being. My baby did nothing wrong. He didn't need to die before he was born. So I never went through with it, and decided I would try to be the best mother I could be to him."

Now Jean's mother smiled just a little bit. "A few months later, I had Jean. Had him right on the kitchen floor. Right there..." Without turning her head, Jean's mother smirked and pointed to a spot in front of the kitchen stove she had. "That's where I gave birth to him. Let's just say he made cooking supper rather difficult that day. 

"But the moment I looked at his little face when he was finally born, I knew I made the right decision in the end. And fifteen years later, here we are." For a little while after that, it was quiet. Then Armin asked what else was on his mind. 

"Why are you telling me all of this, Miss Kirstein, when I'm guessing you haven't even told Jean?" 

"Well, given what happened to him, it just made me remember all of it; the circumstances between then and now are...a little similar. Let me explain..."

Jean's mother stood up out of her chair, and began to walk toward Armin. "Something unpleasant took place, but I got something wonderful out of it. I fooled around with someone I probably shouldn't have, and I ended up with my son. My son is discharged from the scouts due to his injuries..."

When she stood behind him, she clapped her hands onto his shoulders, and gently shook him. "And I ended up getting another one." 

It took Armin a moment to process what she just told him, before he gasped quietly and looked up at her with (once again) widened eyes. Miss Kirstein smiled kindly back at him. 

"You make my son so happy; the happiest he's been in a  _very_  long time. It warms my heart to know that my Jeanbo's fallen in love." Jean's mother leaned over to hug Armin as best she could, rubbing her chin against the top of his head. "And I'm even happier to know it was you." 

Her words were beginning to make Armin cry. He wiped them away with his thumb, before turning and wrapping his arms around her, a big grin crossed his face. 

...

Armin was still smiling when he got back to Jean's room, feeling almost light as a feather when he approached the bed and took his clothes back off. Jean's mother had told him to go back to sleep; he could do with more rest. Now though, Jean was awake, albeit still rather tired-looking. 

"Where'd you run off to?" He murmured sleepily as Armin stepped back into bed, bare naked once more. 

Armin gave a slight chuckle. "Getting to know your mother a little better, I suppose." 

" _Did_  you now?" Jean leaned in and started to press kisses against Armin's face. "Think maybe  _I_  can get more one-on-one time with you again?" With Armin's approval, Jean maneuvered over so that he was right above him. He leaned down, opening his mouth and interlocking it with Armin's. 

Armin felt as if he'd risen to Heaven; the way he felt so overwhelmingly loved as Jean wrapped his arms around him, their lips connected so strongly, was indescribable. He also felt so safe and protected, huddled underneath the quilt that remained on the bed with them. Gradually, Jean tightened his embrace around him, also pressing their hips together and slowly grinding. 

With so much stimulation at once, Armin couldn't help but moan into Jean's mouth. He could also feel one of Jean's hands reaching up to thread his fingers through his soft, golden hair. 

Jean pulled away now, presumably for air. He stared into Armin's big blue eyes, still grinding their hips against each other. Then he went back in to suck at Armin's neck. 

"Oh..." Armin couldn't help letting out. "Jean..." 

He lay back to let Jean do his thing. Evidently, Jean had a preference for using his mouth. Not that Armin was complaining; Jean was quite talented. 

Without really noticing he was doing it, Armin's thighs inched closer to Jean's head, gently squeezing it. In response, Jean carefully gripped them for leverage as his hot mouth took in Armin's once more hardened cock. 

"Ngh...!" Armin couldn't stop himself from running a hand down his chest and stomach, reaching to take hold of Jean's hair. His other one slid across and took hold of one of his own nipples, lightly pinching it. 

Neither Armin or Jean knew how much time had passed; Jean's mother hadn't come in to check on them yet. It was possible she knew what was going on, and decided to leave them be. She really didn't need to see that. 

"Ah...Ah...!" Armin couldn't control his moans for much longer. The indication of him becoming louder and more desperate was swift and delicious. Then, all too abruptly, Jean pulled off without letting Armin reach his peak. Armin was about to complain, before actually looking down and seeing a rather coy and naughty look on Jean's face. 

"Wha...?" Jean winked at him, then stuck out his tongue and made licking motions with it. Following that, he pulled Armin's lower body up to his face. Once he realized Jean's intentions, Armin's cheeks turned a heavy red color. 

Jean pressed his tongue onto Armin's hole, and proceeded to slowly and sensually lick it. The sensation caused Armin to quiver and shake. The eye contact between the two of them sent even more shivers down his spine. That warm wet muscle of Jean's went further, pushing into Armin's still cum-filled ass, and tasted both himself and Armin at once. It surprised Armin just how long Jean's tongue was, as it went in as far as it could go, licking out as much cum as possible. 

"Ooh, Jean!" Armin cried out. "That feels so good!" 

He could feel another orgasm creeping up on him. Normally, he'd be concerned about cumming so many times in only a few hours, but right now he couldn't actually bring himself to care. He grabbed onto the pillow beneath his head, in an effort to keep himself in some form of reality. 

After a little while more, Armin started feeling himself finally reaching the point of no return. Jean apparently could sense this as well, withdrawing his tongue before shoving Armin's cock back into his mouth. He kept his head down as long as he could go, feeling Armin's cum pulsing down his throat. All while doing this, Armin writhed and moaned loudly, his back slowly arching upwards. 

It was quiet then, the only real sound in the room being Armin's panting. He waited until Jean pulled off of him, trying not to snort in amusement when he saw his own cum trickling down Jean's chin. He did pull him a little closer, so he could lick some of it off for himself.

...

A little while later, both of them were laying on their sides, while staring at the shuttered window. They were still under the covers, but only partly now. Behind Armin, Jean was propping himself up with one elbow, and using his free hand to draw shapeless patterns on Armin's skin. 

"Kind of funny how this started," Armin whispered, letting Jean's hand drag across his entire arm. "If you hadn't been in that accident, do you think you and I would've...?" 

He trailed off. Jean stopped touching his arm, and draped his own around Armin's torso, pulling him to his chest. Then Jean pressed his face to the back of Armin's neck, and started nuzzling and kissing it. To this, Armin relaxed and let the soothing motions comfort him. 

Soon, both boys were falling back asleep, as their eyes slowly fluttered shut. Jean settled back to give Armin a little more space to lay on. In turn, Armin pulled the blankets and bedsheets over them, and got comfortable right away. When Jean's mother finally did come in to check on them again, both of them were back to sleep.

The sight was adorable, to her at least. Even if she knew what they had been doing to each other earlier. 


	18. Chapter 18

Armin didn't want to go back to the barracks; he was perfectly content with laying there in bed, next to a handsome young man whose main desire was to please him. But as much as he wanted to stay (which was very much), he knew he _had_ to go back. There was still some unfinished business to deal with.

It'd been rattling around in his head for some time now that night; it was hard to figure out whether he was willing to make such a commute every day (the ride to and from Trost wasn't exactly a short one), or give up the life of a soldier. Choosing the former option would mean that he'd not be able to see Jean and his mother as many times as he'd want. 

But the _latter_ option...

Sitting up and throwing his legs over the edge of the bed, Armin clasped his hands together and tried to think more deeply. He could hear Jean quietly snoring behind him, oblivious to the mental anguish his lover was currently experiencing. In a way, Armin envied him for that. 

Everything that Armin could end up abandoning had at least a brief flash through his mind. In no particular order, he'd thought of his parents, his grandfather, his destroyed home district of Shiganshina; his life in the barracks (as much as _that_ sucked), his wish to see the ocean, Eren and Mikasa-

Even after what had happened, Armin still considered Eren his friend; after all, a friendship of many years wasn't something that could just go away in an instant. And it wasn't like Eren intended for Jean's legs to break during practice, as had been reiterated numerous times before. 

It was a tough choice. But he tried to rationalize it all. His parents and grandpa were gone now, and his destroyed home district was just that, _destroyed._ The barracks was easy to disregard, sort of. His wish to see the ocean, he had plenty of time to do that when the Titans had finally been taken care of. 

When he reached Eren and Mikasa, he hesitated again. If he stayed with the Kirsteins, he would have to tell those two. Mikasa would be upset, but she would (hopefully) understand.

Eren, on the other hand...

Getting to his feet (and making certain Jean didn't wake up), Armin pulled on a shirt and underpants and padded out to the main room. From the other bedroom, he could hear Miss Kirstein; she snored much louder than her son. A quick peek revealed her in a completely random sleeping position; all of her limbs were akimbo. 

Armin just couldn't believe how utterly kind and sweet Jean's mother had been to him this whole time. He would've been suspicious of her motives had he not known who she was related to. All of her nice words and actions actually made him feel bad for not being able to return the favor. Perhaps in time he'd be able to. 

Finally, he looked to the front door to the house. Next to it was a small window that showcased the blustery world outside. A simple glance was enough to send chills through his entire body. For a brief fleeting moment, he thought about wandering out and finding a nice spot to freeze to death. Then he smacked himself for thinking about doing something so horrible; he wasn't  _that_ desperate. 

Taking one more quick glance around the main room, Armin proceeded to look for something to write with, and to write on. Once he found those, he sat down and began composing what would possibly be the hardest thing he'd ever have to write.

...

Armin went back to the barracks alone the next morning. Jean and Miss Kirstein offered to go along with him, but he told them that this was something he needed to do himself.

Upon entering the main section of the barracks, he looked around and noted the lack of other soldiers; he must've gotten there pretty early. It at least meant it wouldn't be as noisy and disruptive when he did what he came here for. Quickly, he made his way to the first location he had in mind. 

Commander Erwin was probably still asleep, as the door to his office was locked. When he reached said door, Armin reached into a cloth sack that Miss Kirstein had given him, and pulled out the first of three letters. He hoped that Erwin would at least grant him the request he was specifying; one to be discharged from the scouts.

There was no doubt in his mind that Erwin would be none too happy about it, but oh well. In the end, Armin just slid the letter under the door. Then he went off to the next area, the dungeon.

To his surprise, the door was unlocked. As quietly as he could, Armin slipped in and reached Eren's cell. Due to the early hour, he was still asleep. Eren made noises as he slept, possibly having a typical nightmare involving Titans. Whatever he was dreaming about, it would probably be made worse by what Armin was leaving for him. 

Finally, it was time to seek out Mikasa. Thankfully, he didn't have to look far for her; she'd ended up being put in a nearby jail cell across from Eren's (chances were that they'd managed to catch her trying to bail Eren out). She too was sleeping away, her facing the wall. Grabbing his last letter, he slid it into her cell and tried getting it as close to her as he could. 

Armin was then skittering off out of the dungeon, before somebody saw him. He himself wasn't caught until he ran into the Captain. 

Left speechless now, Armin just looked down at his feet. He could practically feel Levi's gaze burning into his skull. It was so uncomfortable trying to do or say something, _anything_. 

In a single moment, Levi strode over and patted Armin's shoulder. The gesture was enough to cause Armin to get all teary-eyed, as he now walked past him to reach the door to the barracks. 

On the way out, Armin could feel his chest constricting in pain and sorrow. He clutched at it while getting back to the carriage, the tears now cascading freely down his face. 

He only hoped that this was for the best. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly short chapter because...reasons

Upon returning to the Kirsteins, Armin practically stumbled out of the carriage, oddly mirroring Jean's own exit from it the other day.  _His_  reason for doing it, however, was because he couldn't see too well on account of his sight being all blurry. 

It was already late morning by the time he got back. He could even smell Miss Kirstein cooking lunch (or perhaps brunch, that could also be a possibility). 

Armin tried not to get snow on everything when he entered the house. He also tried to keep his tears hidden from Jean and his mother, while pulling his outerwear back off and hanging it up. 

"Oh, you're back!" Miss Kirstein actually looked surprised at this. "Here I was thinking you wouldn't return until later." She set whatever she was carrying onto the kitchen table, and walked closer. "But now that you  _are_  here, think perhaps you could help me with dinner? I could use a hand getting everything ready, and Jean went back to bed." 

Something about Jean's mother requesting help struck something else deep in Armin's being. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her, trembling with emotion while burying his face into her chest.  

"Oh! Oh, you poor thing." Miss Kirstein couldn't really do much else besides pull him closer and rub his back. She didn't even bother asking; she unconditionally held him close and let him cry it out. 

Armin's sobbing was apparently still loud enough to wake Jean up, though. From behind his bedroom door, Armin could hear him getting to his feet (with something getting knocked over and him shouting out "Fuck!" afterwards), and opening the door quickly, causing him to look about frantically while trying to step on one of his own feet (he probably stubbed his toe or something). 

When he saw Armin and his mother, his panic melted into concern and hurt. While doing his best to not fall over (Hanji's prediction had come true; Jean's limping was awful, and painful to watch), he made his way over to their little hug, and wrapped his arms around them both. 

"Come on, Ma," he said to her while trying then to get his arms solely around Armin, "don't you gotta make dinner?" 

...

A short while later, over bowls of nice hot vegetable stew, the two Kirsteins listened to what Armin had to say about his trip to the barracks; namely, how he ended up cutting ties with the two he considered his best of friends, and letting the Commander know that he requested to no longer be in the Survey Corps. Given the way he was acting over it, it was a most difficult choice indeed. 

It was so painful to think about, Armin barely even realized that his tears were getting into his stew. Miss Kirstein pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere next to the table, and wiped Armin's face clean. 

Jean, meanwhile, was rather torn. Half of him wanted to rejoice about finally being chosen over Jaeger, half of him wanted to comfort Armin immediately. But he just kept eating his dinner, with a rather upset expression. He could probably do both of those things later. 

...

When Jean's mother went out again some time later, the two boys were laying in Jean's bed. Armin kept looking up at the ceiling whenever his eyes weren't closed from Jean pressing his lips to his skin. He lay back and felt Jean alternating between sucking, licking, and kissing him. 

By now, Armin had calmed down considerably, not shedding any more tears over the earlier events and just felt numb at this point. He still moaned from Jean grabbing hold of one of his legs, sucking on his foot before kissing upwards. Armin then clutched the bedsheets as he looked down to see Jean now licking his inner thighs. 

Reaching down, Armin lay a hand flat on the top of Jean's head, actually letting him know he wanted him to stop. Confused, Jean pulled himself up so his face was closer to Armin's. 

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Jean," Armin whispered to him when he was laying on his side. "It may seem hard to believe, but I didn't actually think this all completely through. I was so focused on leaving the Survey Corps, I didn't think to figure out what I was going to do after that. 

"I mean..." he lifted up his fingers, making as if he were going to count on them. "My hometown is gone, I haven't found another place to live, I don't have anything resembling a job, there's no one in Trost I can rely on besides you and your mother-"

Armin was cut off by Jean raising a hand to his mouth, and clapping it over it. When Armin looked over, Jean had a look on his face that seemed to want to ask him, "Are you for real?", or something like that. 

"How the fuck have you not realized it by now, Armin?" Jean asked of him as he tried to roll over onto his stomach. "In case you haven't noticed, my mother loves you. Like, a lot. The only other guy my age that she was like that towards was Marco. And he's gone now, so..." 

Jean briefly went quiet, deciding instead to flop onto his back. "She's actually been wanting to ask you if, well, you know..." He twirled one of his hands as he tried to think of the best way to explain it. "If you wanted to move in with the two of us. But she didn't know when the right time to ask you would've been." 

Now Armin wasn't entirely certain how to react to that. 

"Was she going to ask even if you and I hadn't, you know..."

"Fucked?" Jean shrugged. "Maybe. You did help me through the whole situation with me and my legs. That might've been good enough for her." 

The two were completely silent now, staring down at each other's feet. Armin sidled up to Jean and took hold of his hand, weaving their fingers together. 

"Tell your mother my answer is yes."


	20. Chapter 20

_**-A month later-** _

Why Jean seemed to have a penchant for oral sex, Armin wasn't quite sure. He didn't really care, though; it benefited him greatly. With him seated on the side of Jean's bed, Jean himself holding Armin's thighs over his shoulders, he tried not to moan too loudly. He didn't want to wake Jean's mother up. 

He still didn't think it was a good idea for Jean to be constantly kneeling, but Jean insisted on doing it. According to him, it was so he could try and work on his knees (it was still very difficult for him to stand up without assistance). 

"And besides," Jean had also said to Armin, "I think you're worth the pain." That line certainly got Armin to feel all funny. 

Slowly, one of Armin's hands slid up to the top of his thigh, the other holding him up. Jean took notice of this, and lifted up one of his own to stroke Armin's fingers. As he did, his fingers glided over a ring that he'd given him when Armin had officially moved in with the Kirsteins. 

Miss Kirstein had been overjoyed when Armin told her that he was deciding to live with her and Jean. So much so, that she just about crushed Armin's spine from the big hug that she'd given him. Jean had a more reasonable reaction, and ended up giving him some kind of promise ring.

He said it wasn't anything spectacular, just something that he'd randomly messed with in his spare time before all of this started. Indeed, it was nothing more than a simple band of what looked like some cheap piece of silver. Hopefully, when they were older, he'd get Armin a better one. 

Armin didn't see any need; he loved _this_ one.

But not as much as he loved Jean himself. 

"Haaa...Mmm..." It was hard to keep himself in check as Jean slowly and gently sucked his cock, pulling back occasionally to slide his tongue over it, or rub his cheek against it. Whatever he was doing, it just made it clear that he still loved being in between Armin's legs. 

"You taste so good," Armin could hear him whispering. "I can't get enough of you." He planted a few soft kisses from the base to the tip.

"Just being here with you gets me so hot." That sounded about right; the way Jean's voice sounded, it were almost as though he were intoxicated by nearly everything about Armin. If _that_ wasn't an indicator, the way his free hand slid down into his shorts to pleasure himself would have been one. 

As soon as he went back to sucking on the tip of Armin's cock, Jean's other hand (the one not in his underwear) took hold of one of Armin's and squeezed it. After that, for a while, only Armin's breathy moans, gasps, and other sounds of pleasure could be heard. He tilted his head back when Jean managed to take him in all the way. 

When that familiar sensation began to flare up, Armin bit his lip and tried not to blow right away. He started breathing faster, and curled his toes, like he thought that'd make a difference. A little while later, though, he relaxed and let himself cum, letting out a sigh of relief. Like all the other times before, Jean swallowed it. 

Jean kept Armin's cock in his mouth for a few more seconds, before pulling off. As he did, Armin reached forward and gently stroked Jean's hair and face. He waited until Jean's breath hitched, signaling that he was about to cum himself. When he did, Jean lay back onto the floor and pulled his shorts down to his knees, stroking himself almost furiously. 

"Ohhh, Armin...!" He growled in a low voice. "Oh, fuck...!" His words turned into groaning, and hissing between clenched teeth. Armin quite enjoyed the sight, with Jean looking right at him as he got off. 

He was certainly giving him a show; Jean kept hold of himself with both hands, bringing himself closer to orgasm. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth, remaining focused on the job at hand. 

Due to keeping it up the whole time, in near-desperation, Jean finally came, with heaving breaths to accompany his now exhausted body. His semen had splattered onto his hands, and onto his belly. He didn't bother cleaning himself up, though; he was too enamoured with Armin still sitting on the bed in front of him. 

Then deciding he had to disclose the other reason he kept laying on the floor, Jean reached out to Armin with both hands and a sheepish grin. 

"I'm gonna need some help here." 

...

The next day (somewhere in the late morning or early afternoon), all three of them were out and about getting ingredients for supper. If Jean's mother could smell the sex on either of her boys, she didn't say anything. Instead, she just walked ahead in search of the first store she needed to go to. 

Right behind her, Armin and Jean tried to keep up while holding hands. It was quite a wonder that Jean wasn't in extreme pain each time he limped at Armin's side. Armin did note the strained grimace that Jean kept making, though. 

"Any ideas for what you boys want tonight?" Miss Kirstein asked the two of them when they entered the first shop. To her question, Jean scratched the back of his head. 

"I don't know, Mom. What are the options?" As the two went back and forth, Armin looked about the place. If he didn't know any better, he'd think there was no titan threat currently rampant right outside of the walls. Despite that rather worrisome idea, he felt oddly at peace here. He even saw a couple new recruits for the Scouts acquiring supplies. 

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Armin could've sworn he saw a flash of red; the shade of that color was quite familiar to him. When he turned his head to look, however, it was gone. Even so, he felt his heart ache. 

For the last month or so, he'd never gotten a response from Eren  _or_ Mikasa. He didn't expect there to be one, considering he'd burned bridges with them both, but it still hurt. There were times where he'd wished there had been some other way to have dealt with everything. He would've wanted Eren and Jean to at least _try_ to get along, especially if Eren saw how happy Jean made Armin. 

But that didn't seem like an option at this point anymore-

"Armin?" Hearing his name got him to snap his head back toward the Kirsteins, with Jean getting his attention. "You all right?" 

Taking one last quick glance in the other direction, Armin quick nodded. "Just thought I saw someone I recognized." The way he said this, it was clear he didn't want to talk about it further. Instead, he took his spot on Miss Kirstein's other side, and helped her carry the items she decided on getting. 

It wasn't going to stop hurting for a long time, if ever. Armin wanted to just break down and cry about it, letting out his emotions. He didn't want to do it in public, though. Maybe later. For now, he occupied himself with helping Jean and his mother out.

As they exited the shop to go on to their next destination, he allowed himself to smile a little bit. He also sidled up next to Jean, rubbing his cheek against Jean's. The affectionate gesture was returned, followed by Jean giving a quick peck on Armin's forehead before both of them caught up with Jean's mother. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was not really the ending I was hoping to use
> 
> Maybe I'll come back and update it at a later time or something
> 
> I don't know

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Infirmary (rewritten)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17624141) by [XxJearminxX](https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxJearminxX/pseuds/XxJearminxX)




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